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3..A. Mclaughlin 









LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap... , Copyright No.. 

sheii^Ss^Eve^ 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




GEORGE A. MCLAUGHLIN, 



Old Wine in New Bottles 



OR 



OLD TRUTHS RESTATED 



r 



REV. G. A. Mclaughlin 




BOSTON 
THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS COMPANY 

1897 



Copyright, 1897, 
By The Christian Witness Company. 



C. J. PETERS & SON, TYPOGRAPHERS, 
BOSTON. 



PREFACE, 



*' No man also having drunk old wine desireth new ; 
for he saith, The old is better." So spake Jesus. He 
often used striking illustrations, in order to make him- 
self clearly understood. We think there can be no mis- 
understandins; of his meanino: here. Old wine is better 
than new. There is a seasoning that age confers upon 
it. The older it is, the better it becomes. Old wine 
represents the one eternal, unchanging religion that has 
been in the world since the days of Abel. It grows 
better with time; it improves with age in every individ- 
ual experience, yet it cannot be improved upon by any 
art, science, invention, or evolution of man. ''Anything 
that is new in religion," said Mr. Wesley, ''is not true." 
God had to prepare the old wine of the kingdom by 
the various dispensations. The old wine again and 
again has had to be put in new bottles, but has itself 
remained the same. No new wine is needed, only new 

bottles for the old. The bottles have changed their 

iii 



IV PREFACE. 

shape, material, and style with the increasing ingenuity 
of man ; but the old wine admits of no substitute. Many 
have desired new wine because of the new bottles ; but 
while new wine is not adapted to old bottles, old wine 
adapts itself to either new or old bottles. We have 
respect and bow with veneration to those gray-headed 
truths which by their age prove their fitness to remain. 
We believe in '' the survival of the fittest." And the 
fittest is that old wine of the kingdom that retains its 
life and fire. It exhilarated Abraham, made glad the 
heart of Isaiah, lifted Paul above the depression of his 
environments, and intoxicated the church of the Pente- 
cost. And there has nothing better been found for 
the modern church. We deprecate the search or desire 
for anything as a substitute. Make all the new bottles 
you will, but there is nothing better than the old wine. 
We like old wine because it has passed the transition 
period. It is fixed. The church universal must come 
back to these old tried truths. There is an insidious 
sentiment that asserts that there are new tonics, new 
truths, a new salvation ; but we must insist upon the 
use of the old wine. Old wine imparts new vigor. The 
oldest is really the newest in the kingdom of God. 
Christianity is a life-force in the soul, and every depar- 



PREFACE. V 

tare from this ends in formalism, ritualism, decay, and 
death. There is danger in these days of substituting 
for the old wine the frothy, erratic, untried mixtures 
which breed disease and death. 

There are but few points of resemblance between the 
popular conception of a Christian and the teaching on 
the subject by the Founder of Christianity. It may seem 
rash to assert that after nineteen centuries of Chris- 
tianity, and in an age noted for Bible study, that the 
definition of Christianity seems hidden from the multi- 
tude. But as strange things as this have been. The 
church of the time of Christ knew the letter of the 
Bible better than the church of to-day ; but they failed 
to interpret it in such a manner as to recognize him, 
although he came according to the prophecy of their 
Scriptures. It is not rash, therefore, to assert that 
modern Christianity may have misapprehended the na- 
ture of true Christianity, in this day. If men failed 
to recognize Him, they may fail to recognize his Spirit 
to-day. There is nothing more talked of than Chris- 
tianity and the Christian life. Sometimes we have 
thought that these things are so much talked of, that 
they are not understood, because so much is taken for 
granted without definition or explanation. 



VI PREFACE. 

Although much is said about the subject, we have 
been unable to find any works that even attempt to 
define the nature of the Christian in a simple, straight- 
forward, and specific manner. There are works of the- 
ology ad i7ijinit7tm. But where is the work that shall 
simply and plainly define the Christian ! The object of 
this little book is to assert that Christianity, in its pri- 
mary meaning, is a life-force, and that all who are par- 
takers of that life are seeking the highest form of that 
life. In other words, this book is an attempt to simply 
and explicitly define '^Christianity according to Christ.'' 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Nature i 

II. Requirements 13 

III. Expression 20 

IV. Affections and Desires 29 

V. A Good Hope 42 

VI. The Path of Light 47 

VII. Title and Fitness 57 

VIII. The ^' Up and Down" Life 63 

IX. The More Abundant Life 72 

X. Christian Priesthood 81 

XI. Holiness 91 

XII. Holy Fire . . , . 103 



OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 



CHAPTER I. 
NATURE. 

*' Partakers of the divine nature." — 2 Pet. i, 4. 

Nearly everybody has a definition of the Christian. 
There are almost as many of these definitions as there 
are individuals. These definitions are often contra- 
dictory to each other, hence they cannot all be true. 
After nineteen centuries of Christianity, there are more 
conflicting notions of the nature of the Christian life 
than ever before. 

With such a divergence in the definitions, how shall 
we know that we ourselves are right ? The answer often 
given is, '' Go to the Bible." To be sure ; but most of 
those who contradict each other base their claims upon 
the Bible. Our inquiry, then, must lead us farther than 
the mere quotation of Bible verses. Who is qualified to 
know just what the Word of God teaches.^ One person 
has one interpretation, and another has another. Who 
has the true interpretation .^ 

There are two simple rules which must guide us in 
our interpretation of the Bible : — - 



2 OLD WIXE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

1. He ivJio would understand the Seripticre niicst him- 
self be spiritual, or lie zvill fail to get hold of spiritual 
truth, ''The natural man receiveth not the thino:s of 
the Spirit, neither can he know them, for they are spir- 
itually discerned." No person, therefore, is competent 
to be a religious teacher, and hold up before the people 
the portrait of a Christian, except he has ceased to be 
a merely natural man, and has become a spiritual man. 
This will cut off a great many current notions concern- 
ing the Christian. 

2. Tlie doctrine of a Cliristian life that is gemtine will 
be proved by its frnits in the individual man a7id iii 
society. 

For the present we take up the first proposition only. 
The carnal mind has so beclouded the human reason, 
that when man undertakes to reason on spiritual mat- 
ters he is bewildered. 

The scholarly Nicodemus knew nothing of the new 
birth. Jesus said to him, '' Art thou a master in Israel, 
and knowest not these things .-^ " 

At another time Jesus thanked his Father that he 
had '' hid these things from the wise and prudent, and 
revealed them unto babes." 

It does not follow that, because a man is intel- 
lectual, therefore he understands spiritual things suffi- 
ciently to give the Bible definition of a Christian. We 
believe the Lord inspires spiritual readers of the Bible 
to understand it, as truly as he inspired holy men to 
write it. Many a child on the mount of experience 
has seen farther along the way to heaven than philoso- 
phers who stood at the base. We do not believe it 
difficult for one who desires to flee the wrath to come, 



NATURE. 3 

to lay aside his bosom sins, to deny self and take up his 
cross, to arrive at the true Bible definition of a Chris- 
tian. Many current definitions have seemed to be 
simply excuses to keep on in sin. The sinful heart 
of man sends forth its noxious vapors, that becloud the 
human reason in its search for spiritual light. Hence 
the need of revelation. 

I. A CJiristiaii is more than an inhabitant of CJiris ten- 
don i. 

Geographers have divided the world into four classes, 
— Christian, Jewish, Mohammedan, and Pagan. All 
Turks are Mohammedans ; all Americans are Chris- 
tians. But being born in a Christian land does not 
make us Christians. A Christian cannot be created 
by geography, but by God alone. Many an American 
is a heathen. And many a man in so-called heathen- 
dom is a true Christian. This geographical method of 
making Christians has puzzled honest heathen, and has 
been a hindrance to the kingdom of Christ. The 
opium-trade, forced upon China by so-called Christian 
England, and the rum-trafific, brought to Africa by so- 
called Christian America, have become great hindrances 
to Christianity as taught by Christ. Much of the so- 
called Christianity of to-day is civilized paganism, which 
sends its barbarism to foreign lands to injure its weaker 
brethren. A Christianity which can be proved and 
located only by the map is spurious. 

II. A Christian is more than a chtirehman, 

God has blessed organized effort in advancing his 
kingdom. There has been no permanent prosperity 
except as the truth has been promoted by organization. 
Th's has been the divine method. Because God has 



4 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

SO oraained, some have fallen into the error of worship- 
ping the church, just as the Israelites worshipped the 
brazen serpent, because God had made it a means of 
making his blessing available. Because the church 
has been a means of grace, some have relied on the 
means instead of the grace. Some worship the cross 
more than the Jesus who died on it. They have had 
their eyes on the channel more than the water of life 
that came through the channel. But men may have 
their names on the church-roll who have not their 
names in the book of life. The chief members of the 
church of Jesus' time were the children of the devil. 
People are being deceived right at this point to-day. 
After a time they get to ground their salvation on 
their church relations, and then they go a step farther, 
and are unable to see how any one else can be a real 
Christian who does not belong to their sect. But Jesus 
said, ** Other sheep have I that are not of this fold; 
them also I must bring, and there shall be one fold and 
one shepherd." A man may belong to the church like 
the Pharisees, and like Judas and Dives, and yet make 
his bed in hell. 

III. A Christian is not made by ordinances. 
Some have insisted that the ordinance of baptism 
saved men. Such people ground their religion upoi^, 
the fact that they have been baptized. Water baptism 
is the sign of inward baptizing grace. But as people 
get formal, they substitute the sign for that which it 
represents. As soon might a man expect to obtain 
nourishment from the sign ''Groceries" over a store 
instead of the food which the sign represented, as to 
put the water-sign in place of that repentance and faith 



NATURE. • 5 

which are the Bible conditions of salvation. Water- 
baptism is not the forerunner nor prerequisite of the 
Christian life. Baptism is the sequence, and not the 
condition, of Christian life. It is the outward profes- 
sion that God has washed away our sins. Simon Ma- 
gus was baptized with water ; but it did not extract from 
his soul *' the gall of bitterness," nor break '' the bonds 
of iniquity" that enthralled him. He was baptized in 
the most approved manner, and yet Peter declared '' thy 
heart is not right in the sight of God." On the other 
hand, the thief on the cross went to heaven without 
water-baptism at all. To baptize a man to v^hom God 
has not given a new nature is simply to exchange a dry 
sinner for a wet one. 

IV. A Christiaii is not simply a person who accepts 
CI iris t as a guide. 

It is one thing to have a good guide. It is quite an- 
other thing to have the strength and ability to follow 
him. Many an Alpine traveller has procured the ser- 
vices of a guide whom he has not had the strength to 
follow, or the nerve to imitate, as the guide trod the 
edge of the precipice, or swung himself out over the 
yawning abyss thousands of feet in depth. 

No human being has been able to safely go by the 
snares and pitfalls of sin as Jesus did, except as he has 
had the divine power in his soul to assist him. The 
example of Christ was not given to make us Christians, 
but for us to follow after we have become Christians. 
Only the man who has already become a Christian has 
become empowered to be like Jesus. 

V. To merely lead a moral life is not to be a Christian. 
Many a man who makes no pretensions to a Christian 



6 • OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

life lives as good a life naturally as a professing Chris- 
tian. So that to be a Christian is not only to lead a 
moral life, but something besides that. We can have 
morality without religion, but we cannot have true reli- 
gion without morality. We do not move the hands of 
a clock in order to make it perform its required work ; 
but we wind up the spring, and properly adjust the parts, 
and then the hands go right because the inside is right. 
A corpse might, perhaps, be galvanized so as to per- 
form movements similar to those of life. But these 
movements would not give life. If there be life and 
health, there will be the activities of life and health. 
Hence the absurdity of the sentiment we sometimes 
hear, '' I am trying to be a Christian." In such human 
striving there is no more prospect of success than for 
a corpse to try to be a live man. Only God can make a 
Christian by impartation of divine life. No man ever 
became a negro or a Caucasian by trying. He must be 
born so. Apple-trees are not apple-trees because they 
bear apples, but they bear apples because they are 
apple-trees. *^ Men do not gather grapes from thorns, 
nor figs from thistles." Men are not Christians because 
they do right. But they do right because they arc 
Christians. 

VI. To be a Christian is more than to be religioiis. 
Some think they are Christians because they are re- 
ligious. A man cannot be a decent heathen with- 
out being religious. The Pharisees were exceedingly 
religious, but were not Christians at all. Many people 
confound religion and salvation. But there is a vast 
difference between the two. Some are so busied in 
the performance of the externals of Christianity as to 



NATURE. 7 

fail to get into its inner spiritual sanetuary. They are 
so busy polishing the shell that they never open it to 
get the kernel. They grasp the husks, and let the eorn 
slip through their fingers. They spend a great deal of 
time on the forms to whieh they are in bondage. The 
worst of all bondage is religious bondage. Like a 
horse in a treadmill, they go the weary round, fearful 
lest they may leave something undone. To them reli- 
gion is like an insurance policy for the future ; but the 
assessments are very exacting now, and there is a fear 
lest they be unable to keep them paid up. The yoke of 
mere religion is hard. But the yoke of Jesus Christ is 
easy. The religion of many seems to consist in keep- 
ing their denomination alive and supporting the minis- 
ter. They have joined the church without being joined 
to the Lord. They have religion, but not salvation. 

VI L To be a Cliristian is more than to assent to the 
creed of Christianity* 

Mere intellectual faith can never save. The devils 
in hell are a great deal more orthodox in their creed 
than some people who want to be considered Christians. 
Men of different schools of thought argue and contend, 
and seek to convert one another to their system of 
thought, or interpretation of the Bible, who never have 
felt the power of true Christianity. Others seek to con- 
vert infidels to their faith, who themselves know noth- 
ing more of the power of Christ experimentally than the 
infidel whose views they seek to change. Others con- 
tend against the attacks of science upon the Bible who 
are experimentally as Christless as the scientists them- 
selves. A man may be a Christian in creed and an 
atheist in his heart. 



8 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

VIII. Natural generation cannot make ns Christians, 
A certain class of people have much to say about the 
^^ Fatherhood of God," and that we are all the dear chil- 
dren of God. This is misleading. Man lost the image 
of God — spiritual life — when he fell. Paul says to 
the Ephesians that '' by nature we were the children of 
wrath, even as others." Man is '' dead in trespasses 
and sins " by nature. When Adam sinned he died. 
Spiritual life left him. Our Universalist friends prate 
much about the title in the Lord's Prayer — ^^ Our 
Father." But they forget that it was given to those 
who were already disciples, saved through the ministry 
of John the Baptist. We are told by Paul that to be 
saved is to be '' translated out of the kingdom of dark- 
ness into the kingdom of God's dear Son." This being 
true, natural birth can never make us Christians. ^^The 
first man is of the earth, earthy;" and so will be his de- 
scendants, partaking of his nature. '' The second man 
is the Lord from heaven ; " and his '' seed," — Christians, 
— which he should *^ see and be satisfied," partake of 
his nature — the heavenly. Jesus forever settled this 
question, and pointed out the distinction to Nicodemus, 
when he said '' that which is born of the flesh is flesh, 
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." There- 
fore the command is binding upon every son and daugh- 
ter of Adam. ^^Ye must be born again." '' Which 
zvere born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor 
of the will of man, but of God." Thus forever crumbles 
the corner-stone of Universalism. 

2. Having treated the definition of the Christian 
negatively, we now turn to the positive side of the defi- 



NATURE. 9 

nition. A Cliristian is a person zvlio has become a par- 
taker of tlie divine nature. Some years ago a religious 
newspaper contained a symposium on this question : 
'' What is a Christian ? " Nearly every one who an- 
swered defined a Christian by what he does. Scarcely 
a writer gave a definition of the nature of a Christian. 
It will be seen at once that this is a very unsatisfactory 
as well as inexact and unscientific method. It defines 
nothing. If we were to define a horse as an animal 
that eats and walks, it would be considered, not only 
childish, but a waste of words that defined nothing. 
Natural history divides all creation into different king- 
doms, genera, species, etc., and defines each according 
to the family or order to which it belongs. 

In precisely the same way must we define a Christian. 
He belongs to the spiritual kingdom of God's creation." 
He is '' a new creation." He is a member of the family 
of God, a "partaker of the divine nature," ''a child of 
God," '' an heir of God," a brother of Jesus Christ, "of 
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." 
His " citizenship is in heaven;" just now he is passing 
through a world to which he does not belong. The 
difference between him and the world about him is that 
he has been " translated out of the kingdom of darkness 
into the kingdom of God's dear Son." In his heart is 
"shed abroad the love of God." He "who commanded 
the light to shine out of darkness hath shined into our 
hearts, to reveal the knowledge of God in the face of 
Jesus Christ." Jesus Christ was the first Christian. 
We are to be like him in spirit. The followers of Satan 
are like their master. They have the same spirit. The 
followers of Jesus have the same spirit as he — the 



lO OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

Holy Spirit. '' If any man have not the spirit of Christ, 
he is none of his." 

Matthew Arnold says that religion is but morality 
touched with emotion. When he said that, he no doubt 
described the religion of many; but his definition shows 
that he has had no experience in the Christian religion, 
for that is a life — the life of God in the soul. It is a 
supernatural life, nozv possessed. '' He that believeth 
on the Son liatli everlasting life." 

Those who define religion as simply in the doing in- 
stead of the being, assert that this is not only myste- 
rious, but a superstition. They sneer at exhibitions of 
emotion or activity that spring from religious life. 
Paul, however, who had this experience, declares that it 
is '' the mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ 
in you." 

Festus said Paul was beside himself. And so do in- 
experienced men still declare when it is insisted that a 
true Christian is one who has become a partaker of the 
nature of Christ. 

The fallacy of such sentiments as '^ Live your reli- 
gion " is at once manifest as a superfluous precept ; for 
we cannot help living all we have, and we cannot live 
any more life than we have. But many are endeavoring 
to live more than they have, and are having a painful, 
discouraging time of it. Another absurd sentiment is, 
that *' we have all the religion we live for," which means 
nothing. Just as truly might it be said that a sick man 
has all the life he lives for, which is really to say noth- 
ing. We have all the salvation we trust God for, but 
not all the religion we live for, because we do not be- 
come alive by living for life. This is an empty repeti- 



NATURE. II 

tion of words, but it expresses the mystified ideas of 
many religionists of to-day. They are striving, trying, 
evolving, endeavoring to fix up the old carnal nature; 
seeking by evolution, growth, development, etc., to ^'get 
religion." One minute of faith will bring spiritual life 
which amounts to more than ten thousand years of 
ecclesiastical rites and human works and striving. 

In the first part of this chapter we referred to the 
test of doctrine as given by Jesus, '' By their fruits shall 
ye know them." This is the infallible test of the defi- 
nition of a Christian. Our definition of the Christian 
given above must be scriptural, and it must bear the 
test of its fruitage as seen in society or it is not genuine. 
Tlie doctrine of spiritual life in mmi as essential to being a 
real Christian has proved itself true in history by itsfricits. 
The Wesleyan Reformation by its fruits forever settled 
the question of the spiritual nature of a Christian. 

Under contrary teaching, such as baptismal regenera- 
tion, salvation by works, ordinances, etc., the church had 
lost its hold upon society. The more men preached 
salvation by works, the more society degenerated from 
good works, until anarchy seemed almost to reign, and 
it seemed as if England was about to be ruined by the 
rising tide of wickedness. At this juncture John and 
Charles Wesley were raised up to preach a spiritual re- 
ligion that warmed and purified the heart, turned men 
from sin, and made them ^^partakers of the divine nature.'' 
This purified society, and saved England from destruc- 
tion. And those churches who to-day are turning men 
from their sins, reforming the erring, and lifting up the 
fallen, are essentially preaching the same divine Christ 
as one who sheds abroad his love in the heart. 



12 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

Tlicse arc facts. No otlicr doctrine of the nature of tJie 
Christian life has ever borne the fruitage of the Wesley an 
doctrine and intcrpi^etation of tlie Christian life. 

In accepting this definition of a Christian, we believe 
it correct because the fruitage is in harmony with the 
plain teachings of Jesus ; namely, that true religion be- 
gins in the heart and works outwardly, while all false 
systems have begun on the outside, and have attempted 
in vain to work their way into men's hearts. To test 
an ism or doctrinal system of religion, notice where it J 
begins. If it begins in ceremonies, rites, and outward 
performances, it begins in the wrong place, and does 
not make Christians according to the teachings of Je- 
sus Christ. His religion begins in the heart. If it 
does not begin there, then the unsaved world has as 
good a religion as the church ; for they can perform the 
externals as well as the best people. 



1 



REQUIREMENTS. I3 



CHAPTER II. 

REQUIREMENTS. 

" Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Acts xx. 21. 

What are the requirements in order to the obtain- 
ment of spiritual life, — to become a Christian ? who are 
candidates for the reception of this life of God in the 
soul .^ how shall we make our ''calling and election 
sure " .'^ Those who are not sound in their definition 
of a Christian are usually as far out of the way in their 
views of the necessary conditions of becoming a Chris- 
tian. This is quite natural ; for when one has a v/rong 
place in view, he takes the wrong path. 

No man can become a Christian without taking the 
two steps required by Jesus Christ. Sin is the same 
to-day as in the days of Jesus; and the conditions to 
becoming a Christian, and thus escaping the curse of 
sin, have never changed. This book is written to show 
the points at which men have switched off, and failed to 
come up to the original requirements as given by Jesus 
Christ. He laid down most rigid terms for those who 
would become Christians. What would he say, if on 
earth to-day, at the modern methods of getting men 
into the church, who never pretend to forsake their 
sins, and even assert that we cannot be kept from 
committing sin ? The two plain, simple steps to a 
Christian life are Repentance and Faith, 



14 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

I. Repentance, 

We shall define it negatively. There are certain 
accompaniments to repentance that are sometimes 
mistaken for it. 

1. Repentance is not mere sorrow for sm. — Sorrow 
to a greater or less degree accompanies repentance. 
There are men in the penitentiary sorry that they 
committed the crime that sent them there. But many 
of them are not penitent, and return to their old life. 
Pharaoh was sorry at the plagues sent upon him. But 
he was not a penitent. The prodigal might have wept 
his life away ; but, had he remained among the harlots 
and swine, he would not have been a penitent. Al- 
though sorrow accompanies repentance, yet people are 
sometimes sorry for sin who do not exercise repentance 
toward God. 

2. Repentance is more than a change of mind. — The 
word repentance is sometimes used, to be sure, in the 
sense of a change of mind ; but evangelical repentance 
means more than that. A certain man was sceptical. 
He had refused to admit the claims of Christ because 
of a certain objection. He was taken very ill ; and the 
attending physician told him that he had better pre- 
pare at once to meet his God, as he could not recover. 
His reply was, that he did not believe in the religion of 
Christ ; at the same time he stated his lifelong objec- 
tion. The physician, possessed of superior knowledge 
of the same subject, in a short time cleared away his 
objection. He did it so thoroughly that the sick man 
was compelled to acknowledge it. But when urged 
to repent and accept Christ, he refused, saying '' I have 
made a mistake." He changed his views, but did not 



requiremi:nts. 15 

repent of his sins. Change of views or belief is not 
repentance. 

3. Ackiiowledgine7it of our sins is not repentance. — 
Many love to confess their sins in a certain way, who 
object to having any one else so regard them. They 
think it a mark of humility. We knew of a woman 
whose reputation was unsavory, who said in a religious 
meeting that she sinned every day ; but, apparently 
thinking of what was being said of her, she exclaimed, 
*' But if any one says anything against my character, it 
is a dastardly lie." Pharaoh said after every one of the 
ten plagues, '' I have sinned ; " but he never repented. 
King Saul and Balaam said the same thing, but it did 
not result in repentance. Many people seem to think 
that to acknowledge sin gives a kind of license to con- 
tinue in it. We sometimes hear it said, ^' I know it is 
not right, but I shall do it." 

4. Repentajice is the abandomnent of sin. — The Bible 
command is, "" Let the wicked forsake his way ; " ^' Cease 
to do evil ; " '' Break off your sins by righteousness " — 
not taper them off, but stop at once. Hence there is no 
such thing as a gradual repentance. There is no such 
thing in true repentance as leaving off one sin at a 
time. Some have defined repentance as turning about. 
But it is more. It is going to God after we have turned 
about. This is repentance toward God, of which Paul 
speaks. It is the prodigal returning home. Repent- 
ance is accompanied by sorrow for the past, — regret 
that we have ever sinned. This regret is so keen that 
the subject is anxious to make the past as near right as 
possible. So it leads to restitution where we have it in 
our power to restore, or make right where we have in- 



l6 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

jured God or man. This is the reason that repentance 
is so distasteful to many. It means a great deal. It 
would beggar some people. But better be Lazarus, a 
beggar here, than the rich man in hell. It leads to 
confession when we have injured the feelings or char- 
acter of others. A great many people have been seri- 
ous in religion up to this point; and here they stuck 
fast, and lost their opportunity to obtain eternal life. 
God cannot be ^nocked or bribed. Men mnst repent or be 
damned. It means, therefore, more to be a Christian 
than simply to be sorry, or to be baptized, or to join 
the church. There are many who have done these 
things who never forsook sin. John the Baptist com- 
manded the churchmen of his day to " Bring forth 
therefore fruits meet for repentance." What many 
call repentance is like a walk through a barren or- 
chard ; there is a great rustle of the leaves, but on 
looking up there is no fruit to be seen. 

Mark begins his Gospel thus : '^ The beginning of the 
gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." He then goes 
on to tell us what that beginning is, ^' John did bap- 
tize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of re- 
pentance for the remission of sins." Repentance is 
the beginning, and without it water-baptism amounts 
to nothing. Without an absolute abandonment of sin, 
baptism is blasphemy. The devil is just as fit a sub- 
ject for baptism as the man who does not forsake sin. 
Some sects baptize any one who will say, '' I believe 
Jesus is the Christ." If this is the prerequisite to bap- 
tism, then the devils were fit subjects, for they con- 
fessed Christ. 

Is this the doctrine now being preached in the 



REQUIKKMFATS. 1/ 

churches ? We see many urged to sign cards, hold up 
the hand, join the church, etc. But do we often hear 
a seeking sinner faithfully instructed to renounce all 
his sins, to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, to 
restore what he has taken by fraud, to set right the 
slander his tongue has been engaged in ? Zaccheus 
restored fourfold. '' If the wicked restore the pledge, 
give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of 
life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, 
he shall not die '' (^Ezek. xxxiii, 15). This always has 
been, is, and always will be, the condition of becoming 
a Christian. God is not mocked ; and anything less 
than this, be it ever so popular, produces only a bastard 
Christianity, which will make its bed in hell. 

II. Faith. 

St. James tells us that the nature of saving faith was 
misunderstood in the time of the apostles. It is quite 
possible, then, that it may not be understood by every 
one now, living nineteen centuries after the apostles. 
Saving faith, like repentance, has its counterfeits, be- 
cause it is the work of the devil to prevent the Chris- 
tian life if possible. 

I . Saving faith is more than intellectual assent to 
tncth. — Men may be perfectly orthodox in their creed, 
and yet fail to become. Christians, because saving faith 
is an exercise of the heart rather than of the head. To 
be sure, an intellectual faith is implied in saving faith, 
for no one will exercise a faith of heart in that which 
he believes does not exist. But one may have simply 
an intellectual faith, and remain a devil. The devils 
are more orthodox in their beliefs than many preachers. 
There is a class of people who pronounce fit for bap- 



l8 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

tism those who confess with their mouths that they 
believe Jesus is the Christ. This would also make 
the devils fit subjects for baptism ; for they confessed, 
" Thou art the Christ." But Jesus did not invite or 
command them to be baptized. '' Thou believest there 
is one God ; thou doest well : the devils also believe, and 
tremble." It is possible to have the head all right and 
the heart all wrong. 

2. Saving faith is the reception of Jesus Christ by the 
affections and will, — This is what Paul means when he 
says, ^' With the heart man believeth unto righteous- 
ness." The Bible gives two definitions of faith. It 
defines it to be *'the substance of things hoped for." 
That is, the confident anticipation of things hoped for. 
This is passive faith. It also defines it actively thus, 
** As many as received him, to them gave he power to 
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on 
his name." Faith actively receives Jesus Christ to be 
our ''prophet, priest, and king;" receives him in the 
sense of taking all the responsibility that comes from 
receiving him ; receives him as the only way of salva- 
tion ; receives him as the only way, and thus forsakes 
every other way of salvation ; receives him as the only 
hope, which, if it go down, we go down with it. Faith 
is the risking of our all for time and eternity on him. 
It cries, — 

** Hangs my helpless soul on thee." 

It will be seen at once how different this is from mere 
mental assent to the truth that Jesus Christ is divine. 
This kind of faith men are exercising every day. This 
is the basis of the healing art. A sick man may be- 



REQUIREMENTS. I9 

lieve in the skill of the physician to heal him ; but this 
is merely mental, and does not cure him. But he may 
go a step farther, and put himself in the hands of the 
physician, and obey his orders; and in so doing he exer- 
cises saving faith. Otherwise the doctor cannot cure 
him. Just so we exercise saving faith by yielding our- 
selves wholly to Jesus, and receiving him to save us ; 
and he gives us the "right and privilege to become the 
sons of God." 



20 OLD WINE IX NEW BOTTLES. 



CHAPTER III. 

EXPRESSION. 
" Went about doing good," — Acts x. ^S. 

It was said of the first Christian that he ^' went 
about doing good." All his followers do the same. 
Not to endeavor to do good is not to be a Christian. 
The doing good here spoken of is not to be confined 
merely to charitable deeds. It includes the perform- 
ance of good acts. But this is only one side of the 
question. He employed his whole time in doing good. 
Consequently he did no evil. All that he did was good. 
He committed no sin, either of omission or commission, 
whether in thought, word, or action. 

There is much dispute to-day as to whether his fol- 
lowers can maintain the life that he maintained. Some 
declare it is impossible, — that we cannot refrain from 
sinning. If this be true, then certainly it is no use 
to attempt it. No one strives very earnestly for the 
impossible. 

But we have seen that a Christian is a partaker of 
the divine nature. He has spiritual life in his soul. If 
that spiritual life will not enable him to do all that he 
ought to do, and leave undone all that he ought not 
to do, then the worldling has just as good an expecta- 
tion of overcoming sin as he. If the divine nature does 
not enable the child of God to keep all his Father's 



EXPRESSION. 21 

commands, if he cannot refrain from doing some of 
the works of the devil, then the new life within is not 
divine life. The Word of God declares that the chil- 
dren of God do the works of their Father, and the chil- 
dren of the devil do the works of their father. If the 
children of God are not sufificiently empowered to keep 
from committing sin, then the power of the devil is 
stronger than the divine life in the child of God. This 
is the logical conclusion of the cry of modern Chris- 
tianity, that ^'We cannot live without committing sin." 

It may be well to accurately define sin right here. 
Mistakes are not sins. We are not culpable for mis- 
takes. God does not hold us guilty for our mistakes. 
If mistakes were sins, then we should not be Christians 
at all if we made mistakes; for '^whosoever committeth 
sin is of the devil." ''Whoever is born of God doth 
not commit sin." The New Testament does not con- 
sider him a guilty sinner who only makes mistakes or 
errors of judgment. Lyman Abbott says of the Greek 
word Harmatano, which is the most frequently trans- 
lated to commit sin, in the New Testament, " It sig- 
nifies in the New Testament moral wrong, never a mere 
error in judgment." This definition may be relied upon 
among scholars. 

The motive constitutes the quality of the action. 
''As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Hence 
two men may commit precisely the same act, and in one 
it will be a virtue, in the other a sin. For example, 
two- men give the same amount of money to help the 
poor; one man does it to gain the reputation of being 
liberal in order to help his business, or because he is 
running for office.,: The other man gives the same 



22 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

amount for the same object — the poor; but he does it 
from a good motive — pity for those in need. We call 
the act of the first man hypocrisy, one of the most 
contemptible acts of which man is capable. The other 
man's act we regard as a virtue, and yet the external 
act is the same. It all depends upon the motive. A 
Christian does duty from the right motive by the help 
of the divine life in him. And he loves God too much 
to disobey him. When we say he does not commit sin, 
therefore, we mean he does not wilfully break the com- 
mands of God. He walks up to the light God gives 
him, and is anxious for more light. The Psalmist in 
Psalm xix, makes these distinctions thus, '^Who can 
understand his errors "i cleanse thou me from secret 
faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous 
sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I 
be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great trans- 
gression." Here we note the distinction between errors 
and presumptuous sins. If we do not commit the lat- 
ter, we shall not be guilty of '' the great transgression/' 
or the unpardonable sin. We believe it to be in har- 
mony with a reasonable interpretation of the Scriptures 
to assert that real Christians live without committing 
sin, for several reasons. 

I. God certainly reqttires as mice It after conversion as 
he did to prepare for conversion. — He requires that in 
order to be converted, we stop our sinning. This is 
the first step. This is repentance, as we have already 
shown. No person ever did get converted who did not 
abandon sin. This is the inexorable law of God, which 
he will change for no one. He has no favorites. Men 
may join the church, and rise high in its ofifices ; but un- 



EXPRESSION. 23 

less they forsook sin they never have been converted. 
And God certainly requires as much after conversion. 
'' As ye have received the Lord Jesus Christ, so walk 
ye in him." If abandonment of sin is necessary to 
become converted, the abandonment must continue in 
order to remain converted. One sin cost Adam his 
home in Paradise, and brought trouble to the world ; 
and can God retain in his favor to-day those who sin } 
Has he changed his principles of government or hatred 
of sin } *^ Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet 
offend in one point, he is guilty of all." This matter of 
being a Christian is more serious than is commonly 
supposed. 

2. No one was ever eonipelled to eommit sin, — No 
one will ever be able to plead at the bar of God, *' I 
could not do otherwise than sin." If we cannot keep 
from sin, then we have no freedom of will, but must sin 
because we were created to sin. If we were created to 
sin, then our Creator is responsible for so creating us. 
This makes God the author of sin, which is blasphemy. 
With the freedom of the will stands or falls the jus- 
tice of God. He who says he cannot refrain from sin 
throws the responsibility upon God, and makes him the 
biggest sinner in the universe. God cannot punish us 
justly for what we cannot avoid. But the Word of God 
teaches an entirely different doctrine. ^* God is faith- 
ful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that 
ye are able ; but will with the temptation also make a 
way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." This 
being true, no man can truthfully say, '' I cannot help 
committing sin." 

3. That religion is vain that does not enable man to do 



24 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

as he ought. — If it does not enable him to do what he 
ought to do, and leave undone what he ought not to 
do, it is a weak affair, and unworthy of Almighty God. 
Unless it makes a difference in the life, it is not worth 
having. He who has a religion that does not now en- 
able him to do right, would never miss that religion 
if he lost it. The reason the world pick at flaws in 
the church, and endeavor to find out and expose incon- 
sistent professors of religion, is because they would like 
to prove that there is no divine power to enable a man 
to live as he ought. If God will not enable us thus to 
live, then the infidel has the best of the argument ; for 
he knows the Bible teaches a righteous life, and he has 
a right to demand the samples. 

It has come to pass in many places that about all the 
idea men have of the atonement is that it means salva- 
tion from hell. The chief passages of Scripture that 
speak of the atonement hardly refer to it as an escape 
from punishment. It is a larger salvation than that. 
It is deliverance from sin^ zvhich is the cause of hell. 
^' Thou shalt call his name Jesus ; because he shall save 
his people from their sins." This is a grander salva- 
tion than escape from hell. '^ Who gave himself for 
us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify 
unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." 
*'The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the 
world." ''Jesus, that he might sanctify the people with 
his own blood, suffered without the gate." By saving 
his people from sin, he saves from sin's punishment. 
The man who keeps the statutes of the State never 
stops to argue as to the existence of the penitentiary. 
Practically there is no penitentiary for him. God pro- 



EXPRESSION. 25 

poses through the death of Jesus to save us from sin. 
And being saved from sin, we shall also be saved from 
its result, — hell. 

The religion that does not save us from sinning, cer- 
tainly is not very promising as to salvation from hell. 
We should not wish to take the risk for the future un- 
less we had a present salvation. If Jesus Christ does 
not now save from sin, how do we know that he will 
save from hell by and by ? 

4. T/ie Scripture teaches that this is the distifigtdshing 
characteristic of the cJiildren of God. — This is the point 
in which thev differ from the children of the wicked one 
— in not sinning. 

Sin is ''the works of the devil." It is thus rightly 
named because he first practised sin, and has been prac- 
tising it ever since he first sinned. Sin is of the devil, 
because all who practise sin have his help. The chil- 
dren of the devil practise his works. On the other hand, 
holiness and righteousness have God as their origin and 
helper. The children of God do the works of God, 
and the children of the devil do the works of the devil. 
How absurd to assert that the children of God must 
practise the works of the devil ! 

There must, therefore, be this clear, definite, and 
eternal difference and distinction between Christians 
and the unregenerate world. 

This view is so in harmony with common sense that 
it has passed into a proverb that " Prayer will make us 
leave off sinning, or sin will make us leave off praying." 
And yet multitudes of professed Christians believe they 
must sin. 

5. A religion that will not keep us from committing 



26 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

s/71 IS bcloiv Jicatlicii pliilosopJiy. — The best heathen, 
under the light of nature, without the light of the 
atoning sacrifice and teachings of Jesus Christ, did as 
well as that. By their self-denial and abstinence they 
lived better than some so-called Christians believe pos- 
sible. Adam Clarke, in his notes on i Jolin Hi. 9, says, 
" We have the most indubitable evidence that. many of 
the heathen philosophers had acquired, by mental disci- 
pline and cultivation, an entire ascendency over all their 
wonted vicious habits. Perhaps my reader will remem 
ber the story of the physiognomist, who, in coming into 
the place where Socrates was lecturing, his pupils, wish- 
ing to put the principles of the man's science to proof, 
desired him to examine the face of their master and say 
what his moral character was. After a full contempla- 
tion of the philosopher's visage, he pronounced him ' the 
most gluttonous, drunken, brutal, and libidinous old 
man that he had ever met.' As the character of Socrates 
was the reverse of all this, his disciples began to insult 
the physiognomist. Socrates interfered and said, ' The 
principles of his science may be very correct, for suck 
I zvas^ but I have conquered it by my philosophy' O ye 
Christian divines, ye real or pretended gospel ministers, 
will ye allow the influence of the grace of Christ a sway 
not even so extensive as that of the philosophy of a 
heathen who never heard of the true God } " 

6. To deny this makes it easier to sin. — If it be taught 
that we cannot live thus, it cuts the nerve of all effort 
to the contrary. Where is the man that is inspired to 
keep from sinning if he believes he cannot f Only mad- 
men attempt that which is impossible. What is the use 
to make effort arainst sin, if we know we cannot avoid 



EXPRESSION. 27 

it ? There is no need for any pulpit (as some do) to 
tell people they cannot live without committing sin. 
The devil is preaching that doctrine all the time, and he 
has done it so effectually that he does not need the help 
of religious teachers in this particular. If we are not 
as soldiers of Christ enlisted for victory, then what are 
we enlisted for ? Some have supposed it means only 
final victory. But it is a present victory. He who 
does not have present, constant victory in the world, 
where the enemy is, need expect no final victory. 

7. A Cliristian keeps tlie covwiandrnents of Jesus Clirist 
because lie loves to do them, — Jesus himself ^made this 
the test of true religion. *' If ye love me, keep my com- 
mandments." " If a man love me, he will keep my 
words." This, coming from so high an authority, — the 
founder of Christianitv himself, — shows that we can 
keep his commandments. We know there are those 
who think this impossible, but argue for sin, which is 
the breaking of the commandments of Jesus; yet his 
dictum is authority here. 

There are those who think that it is a difficult matter 
to live thus. They talk about it being a hard thing to 
live a Christian life. They say they break the command- 
ments of God ''in thought, word, and deed " every day. 
This is a singular sentiment, strangely in contrast to the 
teachings of Jesus. He says, ''My yoke is easy and my 
burden is light." If this be so, it is not difficult to keep 
his commandments. Love for Jesus constrains true 
Christians to keep his commandments. And if they 
keep his commandments, they are not breaking them. 
John says, " This is the love of God, that we keep his 
commandments : and his commandments are not griev- 



2S OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

ous." It IS a libel on Christianity, then, to say it is 
hard to keep the commandments, or, in other words, 
that we cannot refrain from committing sin. The love 
of God in every one who has spiritual life enables such 
an one to live in obedience, and with a real love for the 
will of God, so that he prefers it to his own will, and 
always prefers and yields to the will of God from choice. 
Real Christianity is divine life in the soul, and that 
divine life enables us to obey God because we love him. 

A Christian has the supernatural within him ; and the 
supernatural leads him to obey God in all things, not 
from compulsion, but from choice. 

This expression of spiritual life enables the Christian 
to fulfil the apostolic injunction, ^'that ye may be blame- 
less and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the 
midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom 
ye shine as lights in the world." David says of such, 
^* They also do no iniquity." 



AFFFXTIONS AND DESIRES. 



CHAPTER IV. 

AFFECTIONS AND DESIRES. 

" The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost." 

Rom. v. 5. 

It is said by the Apostle Paul, that ''if any man be in 
Christ, he is a new creature." By this figure of speech 
we are to understand that there is something newly 
created. This new creation is not of the body or mind, 
but has sprung up in the spiritual nature of man. There 
is a something not found there previously. By this 
new creation is meant the creation of new desires and 
affections, such as were never before possessed. He 
now 'Moves what he once hated, and hates that which 
he once loved." There has come about a revolution 
and transformation in his spiritual and moral nature. 

He has received "a new heart." That is, he has a 
love he never had before. " The love of God is shed 
abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost." 

To change a man's natural tastes is remarkable. For 
instance, a man cannot endure even the thought of eat- 
ing a certain kind of food because it is distasteful to 
him. Suppose all of a sudden he gets an intense liking 
for it ; this is marvellous. But when a man who has no 
love for God has injected into his soul a love for God 
and Tightness such as he has never felt or dreamed of 
as possible, it is a still greater marvel. 

I. This love is siipernatiiraL 



30 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

It is the love of God. It is the same love that dwells 
in the bosom of the Almighty. It would be impossible 
to be a partaker of the divine nature without being a 
partaker of the divine love, for '^ God is love." In the 
Greek the term for divine love (^Agape) is always differ- 
ent from another term QPkild) used to denote all other 
kinds of love. It is not the same as conjugal, parental, 
or filial love. It is a term that always denotes a differ- 
ent kind of love. No man is born with this love until 
he is born the second time. Then God lets fall into 
the heart of man a drop of that infinite ocean of love, J 
and this is the new heart. This may develop, and swell 
into an ocean of its own. In a thousand ways it is dif- 
ferent from human, natural love. It is as different from 
the love that the natural man possesses as light from 
darkness. The natural man loves his kind, his family 
and friends, as the animal does his kind, from natural 
causes. But supernatural love is something beyond '| 
and beside all this. Let us notice the contrast between 
natural and spiritual love._ 

I. A Cliristian loves God. — He does not try to love J 
God, but he loves him. The natural man admires the 
works of God, but he often mistakes love for admira- 
tion. Men prate about the Fatherhood of God, and 
about ''seeing God in nature,'' who have no more re- 
spect for him than the admiration that we feel for a 
great artist or architect as we view his works. We 
may admire the works of a man whose character we 
cannot love. But a Christian, being a partaker of the 
divine nature, loves that being who has imparted that 
nature to him as naturally as he once loved sin. Un- 
saved men admire and fear (in a slavish sense) God, 



AFFECTlOIsS AND I)i:SIUI'S. 3 I 

but do not love him. lliis is iriic, because the test 
of love is obedience; and unsaved najn are not obedi- 
ent. Their so-called love breaks down right here. 
They do not love him, for if they did they would for- 
sake sin for his sake. If they loved God, they would 
love the thinirs he loves, and hate the thinirs he hates. 

2. y] CJiristiaii loves every tiling tliat is good. — Mere 
we notice the contrast between the two classes. Tiie 
natural man sees little that is attractive in the Word 
•of God. To be sure, he sometimes admires its literary 
beauties; but there are few even of that class. Other- 
wise, he cares little for this book. But .a Christian 
loves the Bible. It stirs his heart to its depths as he 
reads it. What good food is to the palate the Word of 
God is to his soul. He feels that it 'Ms sweeter than 
honey." The natural man never prays unless he is in 
trouble; but the Christian prays, not only because he 
desires certain requests, but also because he delights 
to pray. He holds communion with God as with a 
dear friend. An unsaved man takes little delight in 
the house of God. He goes there from habit, duty, or 
for profit. But the Christian feels that a day in the 
courts of God is ''better than a thousand." This con- 
trast is because of the different natures of the two men. 
It is a matter of taste or disposition. 

3. Vice versa, a Cliristicin has no relish for worldly 
frivolities. — When he became converted, the lansruar^'e 
of Charles Wesley was the language of his heart : — 

**Vain, delusive world, adieu, 
With all of creature good ! 
Only Jesus I pursue, 
Who bought me with his blood. 



32 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

All thy pleasures I forego ; 

I trample on thy wealth and pride ; 

Only Jesus will I know, 

And Jesus crucified." 

A Christian does not have to resist the inclination to 
go to the world for pleasure. He finds his comfort 
and happiness in the love of God shed abroad in his 
heart. He does not have to go abroad for a feast ; he 
finds it at home. The professed Christian who says, 
*^ There is no harm in the theatre," *^ I see no harm in 
dancing," who argues for these things, has made a mis- 
take in supposing himself a Christian. Had he become 
a partaker of the divine nature, these things would be 
tasteless and useless. We can tell whether we are real 
Christians or not by what we like, for that reveals our 
nature. There are people who say it does not hurt 
their religion to dance or attend the theatre. We 
agree with them. Any kind of religion that seeks its 
satisfaction from the same things that the unsaved 
world gets its happiness from, cannot be true religion. 
It never hurts paper flowers to be put out in a frosty 
night. It never injures a buzzard to feed on carrion. 
There is no perfume in paper flowers, and the flesh of 
the buzzard is itself tainted. Let us examine ourselves 
in the light of this proposition : to which does our love 
go, the things of God, or the frivolities of this world ? 
*' No man can serve two masters." ** Ye cannot serve 
God and mammon." Jesus did not say we ought not, 
but we cannot, serve God and mammon. It is a moral 
impossibility. We serve that which we love. Our 
love reveals what we are. All this follows naturally 
from the definition of a Christian. The divine nature 



AFFECTIONS AND DESIRES. 33 

within causes him to love those thinos that harmonize 
with the divine nature, and hate those things that are 
hostile to the nature of God. For a good lover also 
means a good hater. 

4. A Cliristian has a peculiar love for tlic people of 
God. — ''We know that we have passed from death 
unto life because we love the brethren." There is a 
peculiar love for God's people. It is closer and more 
intimate than even the ties of flesh and blood. Our 
kindred many times cannot understand our experience. 
Sometimes relatives have turned against their friends 
who have become Christians. But there is such a bond 
between true Christians that they have a fellowship 
unknown to mere flesh and blood. Jesus said, '' Who- 
soever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, 
the same is my brother and sister and mother." Here 
are ties stronger and more sacred than those that bind 
families together. These are the bonds of ''the house- 
hold of faith.'' Many a soul, misunderstood by com- 
panions in the flesh, finds that he is understood by 
those who have obtained like precious faith. 

5. A Christian loves his neighbor as liimself. — This 
does not mean that he loves his neighbor as he does 
the members of the household of faith, or as he loves 
his most intimate friends. He is not required so to do. 
But he loves himself aright, and loves his neighbor the 
same way — in a right manner. Paul explains this by 
saying, ''Love worketh no ill to his neighbor." Just 
as when a man loves himself properly he will do noth- 
ino; intentionallv to injure himself, so, too, he will do 
nothing to injure his neighbor. He will seek to ''please 
his neighbor, for his good to edification." The last 



34 t>i-I^ WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

word means to build up. On the one hand, he will not 
injure his neighbor ; on the other, he will seek to build 
him up in righteousness. This is the love that a Chris- 
tian has for his neighbor. And Jesus told us that our 
neighbor is the person who is in need of our help. 

6. A CJiristian loves his enemies. — This is the crown- 
ing glory of Christianity. It marks the difference be- 
tween a true Christian and all other classes of people 
in the world. The man who says ''I cannot love my 
enemies," has not yet had the love of God dropped into 
his bosom from heaven. He professed the religion of 
Jesus, but has not yet become a Christian. He thought 
he was a Christian because he kneeled at the altar, was 
baptized, and joined the church. He considered him- 
self a Christian because the preacher, perhaps, said so. 
But he never yet became a partaker of the divine na- 
ture. Because, if he had received that, it would be nat- 
ural for him to act like his Master, who said, '' If ye love 
them which love you, what reward have ye t do not 
even the publicans the same t " Any one can love those 
that love him. But it requires the nature of him who 
died praying for his enemies to love as he did. Nat- 
ural love loves those that love it. Supernatural love 
loves those who are enemies. By this we may know 
whether we are real Christians or not. People some- 
times think they are Christians, who are deceived in so 
thinking. We have yet to hear of one who ever w^as 
deceived in the matter if he applied this test. Hear 
what the first Christian said, '' Love your enemies, bless 
them that curse you, do good to them which hate you, 
and pray for them which despitefully use you, and per- 
secute you ; that ye maybe the children of your Father 



I 



\ 



A 



AFFKCTIOXS AND DESlKES. 35 

wiiich is ill luavcn." If church-membership were sifted 
out by this rule, where would modern Christendom find 
itseh* ! And yet this is pure Christianity according to 
Christ. ''If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he 
is none of his." He who cannot love his enemies has 
yet to obtain the new^ heart. Is it not a great expe- 
rience to be a child of God ! to be regenerated and 
justified in his sight! Entire sanctification is a great 
experience. But no one need think that in order to find 
a place for it, we must consider regeneration as a small 
or unelevated experience. It is a high and holy expe- 
rience to be born of God. It enables us to love our 
enemies, and to do good to all men. Depend upon it, 
real Bible reo-eneration is a scarce article. Were there 
more of it, there would be more seekers of entire sanc- 
tification. Many people contend against the latter sim- 
ply because they never had the former. Regeneration 
according to the teaching of Jesus Christ is almost as 
rare as entire sanctification. Let us be sure we have 
re2:eneration before w^e seek entire sanctification. 

II. A real Christian lias a viost intense desire for 
a pure lie art. 

Anything that is pure contains nothing else contrary 
to its nature. A pure heart is the new heart with noth- 
ing- contrarv to that new heart. It is the love of God 
in the soul with nothing; contrarv to love. All evil 
tempers, dispositions, and qualities are absent from a 
pure heart. A Christian loves holiness because he has 
the divine nature. And for the same reason he hates 
sin. And he hates sin in himself the most, because he 
has the opportunity of knowing its workings the better 
in himself than anvwhere else. He can never rest satis- 



36 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

fied while there is anything in his heart that is contrary 
to that divine love that glows there. God cannot look 
upon sin with the least degree of allowance, and the 
divine nature within us must instinctively recoil at sin- 
ful dispositions. Indeed, sin is a weight hung upon the 
neck of the soul where the love of God is shed abroad. 
It hinders. It disturbs. It hurts at times. Even when 
it does not get the mastery over love, yet it is a hin- 
drance to the development of love. But when it causes 
the Christian to break down, it is even more to be hated 
and feared. So every true Christian wants to get rid 
of this Jonah, and can never feel really at peace until 
he is cast out. Jesus declared that the Christian has a 
most intense desire for holiness. He put it under the 
figure of hunger and thirst. ^^ Blessed are they which 
do hunger and thirst after righteousness." This is not 
the state of a sinner. The latter does not hunger and 
thirst after righteousness. It requires the new birth 
to put into the heart an intense desire for holiness. 
Becoming a new creature puts into the soul a desire 
for holiness. Let us for a moment, then, see just what 
is meant by righteousness. // means that state of heart 
that is right. It does not mean about right. We hear 
people declaring that they are about right. But that 
is not right. Nothing can be more or better than right. 
And that which is less than that is wrong. As some 
one says, ''It is the state of being upright, downright 
outright, inright, and all right." It means freedom from 
sin. Paul says, '' Awake to righteousness and sin not." 
The divine command is, ''Break off your sins by right- 
eousness." " Being made free from sin, ye became the 
servants of righteousness." We see from these pas- 



AFFECTIONS AND DESIRES. 37 

sages, then, that it means the state of being free from 
sin. In other words, every Christian has an intense 
desire to be free from sin. This is another test, then, 
that we must apply to our experience to ascertain if we 
are real Christians. To be free from sin is to be right. 
Can any one conceive of a Christian praying or desiring 
to be anything less than this ? Can we suppose a real 
Christian praying, '' O Lord, I want to be almost right, 
but not quite " ? 

Hunger and thirst are the most intense appetites 
which we possess. When they are not satisfied they 
turn men into brutes and fiends. There is nothing more 
awful than extreme thirst in all the possibilities of hu- 
man suffering. These are daily and constantly recur- 
ring appetites. They are not merely occasional. So 
that when Jesus uses this figure he means an intense, 
constant, and habitual desire for holiness. Not some- 
thing occasional ; not a wish, but an intensity of desire. 
There are some things that should not be mistaken for 
this intensity of purpose. 

I. Tlie desire of the awakened sinner. — This is not 
hunoferinsf and thirstino; after rio-hteousness. The sin- 
ner who has real conviction can think of nothing else but 
how to get rid of his load of guilt. He has no time to 
think of purity of heart. He is like the ancient runner 
to the city of refuge. Justice is on his track. How 
shall he escape justice } He thinks only of getting into 
the city. He thinks but little of the beauties of the 
city, or the rights and privileges of citizenship, or how 
he shall live. His chief concern is to get in. So the 
convicted sinner has something else to think of besides 
the blessino; of holiness. The man who thinks we are 



38 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

wholly sanctified when converted shows that he does 
not know what conversion is. The sinner's chief con- 
cern is pardon. The Christian's is purity. 

2. Xor is it to have a great experience. — A real Chris- 
tian wants to be holy, not because it is a great and glo- 
rious experience, but because he is in love with holiness, 
and nothing else can satisfy his nature. A hungry man 
wants food, not because it is a good thing, nor because 
it is ''the proper thing" to be well fed, but because 
it satisfies an intense desire of his nature, so intense 
that he feels he must have it. People who seek holi- 
ness in order to have a great experience, or to be happy, 
never get it. They need to be converted, for it is the 
regenerated man who has a real passion for holiness. 
Such a man desires holiness, whether people consider 
it a small or great experience. 

3. Nor is it a desire for an experience like that of some 
one else, — A real hungry man wants food, not because 
other people have it, but because he needs it, and can- 
not get along without it. The glowing experiences of 
others may make him hopeful that God will satisfy ///;//, 
but he does not seek it in order to be like them. He 
wants to be like Jesus. He does not want it to be like 
others, but because he feels he will perish without it. 
He who wants holiness of heart in order to be like 
some one else in experience, needs to be born again. 
Then he will obtain an insatiable desire for holiness for 
his soul's sake. 

4. Nor is it a desire for holiness because it is popular. 
— Hungry men do not think about the popularity or 
unpopularity of the food, but how to get at it. They 
want the food anyway. A real thirsty man seeking 



AFFECTIONS AND DESIRES. 39 

strong drink cares little for his reputation. He wants 
satisfaction, whether it be popular or not. A real Chris- 
:ian wants holiness for its own sake, whether it be 
popuhu" or otherwise. Mis question is not, whether 
" the rulers'have beHeved on him," but "Is there such 
an experience as having sin all removed from the heart ? 
Ir t'nere is, tell me how to get it, and I will pay the 
price, because I hate sin, and long to be as near like my 
Master as I can." A true Christian wants to be holy, 
whether any one else does or not. This is the reason 
that people pray for holiness when they are in a clear 
experience of regeneration. We used to hear the breth- 
ren in our boyhood, when they were at the glowing 
point of their prayer, say, '^Cleanse us from the last 
and least remains of sin." The reason people so pray 
is because they have the assistance of the Holy Spirit, 
— the Spirit of holiness, — who urges them on. He 
helps all true praying. ^' F'or we know not what we 
should pray for as we ought : but the Spirit itself mak- 
eth intercession for us with groanings which cannot be 
uttered." The Spirit of holiness could not be consis- 
tent with himself and inspire us to pray for less than 
that holiness which ''is the will of God concerning us." 
Many years ago we learned a hymn which expresses the 
aim of every real Christian. We give one stanza: — 

" How happy is the man 
Who hath chosen Wisdom's ways, 
And measured out his span 
To his God in prayer and praise. 
His God and his Bible 
Are all that he desires; 
To holiness of heart 
He continually aspires.'^ 



40 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

How are multitudes deceiving themselves. They think 
they are Christians, but do not desire to be holy. They 
have not the nature of God, which constitutes a true 
Christian ; for if they had, they would intensely desire 
to be free from sin. 

Rev. James Caughey, an evangelist through whom 
God shook three nations, says of this desire for purity 
of heart, " It is the highest gem that sparkles in j^eal 
justification. Solomon says, ^A virtuous woman is a 
crown to her husband.' Purity is the crown of justi- 
fication. If it be genuine, this desire is always at- 
tached to it, — as weight is to lead, as heat is to fire, 
as fragrance to the rose, as green to a healthy leaf, — 
inseparable." 

From all these considerations we are logically brought 
to the conclusion that a real Cliristiait is a specialist 
ttpon the subject of holiness. The charge has usually 
been made, that only one class of people are specialists 
on the question of holiness, — those who profess the 
second blessing. But if we understand the nature, af- 
fections, and desires of Christians, every one is a spe- 
cialist in seeking, obtaining, and retaining a holy heart, 
and in urging others to the same. The man who is not 
a specialist on this subject has lost the freshness and 
keen edge of his first love, if he ever had it. There 
never yet was a real convert in his earliest love who 
was not desirous of holiness, — even if he did not 
know it by that name. How often people are scared 
away from holiness by being afraid of being known as 
'* specialists." 

A real hungry man is a specialist on the subject of 
food. And a real Christian is specially hungry for the 



AI'Fl-X'J IONS AND DKSIRES. 4I 

specialty of the Bible — holiness. They who can be 
driven away from seeking holiness by being afraid of 
being known as specialists, had better take account of 
stock, and see where they are. A real Christian makes 
a specialty of getting to heaven. In order to do so, he 
will desire to make a specialty of holiness, which is the 
only thing that will keep him out of hell. A man who 
can be scared away from a feast by being called names 
is not yet very hungry. And a professed Christian 
who can be frightened, flattered, or cajoled from seek- 
ing holiness, needs to seek a clear evidence that he 
is a child of God. It is a great experience, again we 
repeat, to be a Christian, to keep justified before God. 



42 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES, 



CHAPTER V. 

A GOOD HOPE. 

'^ We are saved by hope." — Rom. viii. 24, 

When Israel had crossed the Jordan, and laid siege 
to the city of Ai, they were defeated, much to their 
surprise. The sin of one man caused this disastrous 
defeat. Detected, accused, and overwhelmed with 
shame, Achan confessed his sin in transo:ressino- the 
command of God, and thus bringing disaster to tiie 
whole church. Sentence of death was passed upon 
Achan because of his treason. Achan, with all his pos- 
sessions, was taken to a valley and destroyed. Above 
him was raised a monument of stones. " Wherefore 
the name of that place was called. The valley of Achor." 
QJosh. vii. 26.) The meaning is, Tlie valley of trouble. 
Nearly seven hundred years after this, God thiough 
his servant Isaiah makes the valley of Achor, with its 
trouble, a place for hope ; and many years after, through 
another prophet QHos. ii. 15), he says he will give a 
backsliding people ''the valley of Achor as a door of 
hope." He would make the valley of trouble, which 
had been cursed by being the place of punishment for 
crime, a door of hope, through which they might enter 
into future blessing. The valley of Achor had been a 
door of hope to Joshua and Israel, because, obeying God 
there, they could expect future victory. This world is 



A GOOD HOPE. 43 

a valley of Achor. Here is trouble because of disobe- 
dience and sin. lUit right here in the midst of trouble 
God makes *'the valley of Achor a door of hope" to 
those who obey him. We hear much said about ''a 
good hope," ''a false hope," ''indulging a hope," etc. 
It is quite important that we understand the nature of 
Christian hope. 

It is remarkable that, while hope is a characteristic of 
Christian experience, yet it is not found in the cata- 
logue of the fruits of the Spirit, as given by Paul in 
the Epistle to the Colossians. The reason for this seems 
to be that hope is rather the result of the working of 
faith, which is the fruit of the Spirit. " Faith is the 
substance (foundation, — that which stands under) of 
things hoped for." Faith is the foundation, and hope 
is the temple built upon the foundation of faith. He 
who has a real faith erects upon it the observatory of 
hope, from whose heights he views the glories of the 
world to come. His telescope views the skies, and re- 
vels in the glories of the life to come. Hope always has 
regard to the future. A genuine Christian hope is a 
great stimulus to patient endurance of present ills and 
trials. '' If it were not for hope the heart would break." 
It is this that cheers the struggling saint, and gives him 
fresh courage to battle on "a few more days or years 
at most," expecting the glories of the future world. 

" This glorious hope revives 
Our courage by the v^ay ; 
While each in expectation lives, 
And longs to see the day." 

The hope of a Christian is of gaining heaven with all 
its joys ; of escaping hell with all its miseries. This 



44 ^^^^ WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

brings present peace and happiness. But the Word of 
God speaks of certain kinds of hope that are false and 
deceptive. ''The hypocrite's hope shall perish." ''The 
hope of unjust men perisheth." Nearly all the promi- 
nent churchmen of the time of Jesus had hope ; but it 
was built upon the sand, and failed them at the last. 
These churchmen were perfectly familiar with the 
Scriptures, and yet failed to gain eternal life. A good 
hope is likened by Paul to the anchor that holds the 
ship on the stormy sea. It was hope that led Moses 
to forsake the treasures of Egypt, Abraham to leave his 
father's house and native land. They looked for some- 
thing better. How, then, shall we distinguish between a 
good and a false hope ? We reply, that hope rests on 
two things : i. Present experience ; 2, Adjustment to 
the hoped-for future. Experience worketh hope, accord- 
ing to Paul. The experience of present salvation is a 
pledge of future salvation. God gives us a present salva- 
tion, which enables us to believe that he will give us final 
salvation. The basis of a Christian hope is the merits 
of Jesus Christ, and present experience enables us to feel 
that his blood now avails for us. We said adjustment 
to the hoped-for future. The man who expects future 
good seeks to prepare for that future good. He is get- 
ting ready for it, living as if he believed it a reality. 
The ploughman breaks the soil and drops the seed, but 
he also prepares the granary into which he expects to 
gather the harvest. Those who have a good hope do not 
thereby become careless and presumptuous ; they still 
seek to make their "calling and election sure." But 
they are acting so that their hope may not be dimmed 
or become mere presumption. Instead of making them 



A GOOD HOPE. 45 

careless, it makes them more earnest than ever. Just 
as when a traveller sails for another country which he 
expects to reach, he secures his passport, exchanges his 
money for the kind used there, provides the kind of 
garments adapted to the climate, so he who has a good 
hope of heaven is looking carefully to see if he has the 
fitness for it, lest he be deceived after all. The old- 
time Calvinists only dared to '' indulge a hope," they 
were so fearful of beino- deceived. God tells us whether 
we have a good hope or not. We may find his test in 
the Bible. If we are seeking with earnest hunger the 
fitness that he gives for heaven, then we have a good 
hope. How, then, do we know we have a hope that will 
stand the testing of the last day ? i. By the possession 
of a present salvation; 2, By a sincere determination to 
be fully prepared for eternal glory. We may have a 
good experience and rest in that, and fail in our hope ; 
therefore God tells us plainly, '' Every man that hath 
this hope in him [Jesus] piirifietJi liimself even as lie is 
pturT Here is the test of a good hope in Jesus. We 
wish these words could sink into the heart of every pro- 
fessed Christian in this world. Let no man deceive 
himself. The man who has not a pure heart, and is not 
seeking it with all his soul, has no good hope of eternal 
salvation. Is not this Scripture plain 1 Let us measure 
ourselves by the Word of God. Here it is. God has 
called us to holiness. There will be multitudes de- 
ceived and lured on by false hopes, only to be unde- 
ceived in the last day. They looked upon holiness as 
fanaticism, as a twist in the brain of visionary people. 
With Bibles in their houses, they refused to believe 
*' Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." They 



46 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

scorned the call to holiness. They tried to make them- 
selves believe that being once converted, and being bap- 
tized, and joining the church, was enough. They failed, 
not because they were not once converted, but because 
they stopped in their course, and refused to let God 
purify their hearts. Reader, be sure you have a good 
hope. Be sure it is according to the Word of God. He 
cares more for what he has written in his Word than for 
all the past experience he has given you. Take this 
passage of Scripture, *^ Every man that hath this hope in 
him purifieth himself even as he is pure." Make it the 
straight-edge that you shall lay up beside your hope, 
and see if it be in harmony with it. Depend upon it, 
if you are a real Christian, you either have a heart from 
sin set free, or you are intensely seeking it. 



THE PATH OF LIGHT. 4/ 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE PATH OF LIGHT. 

" The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more 
unto the perfect day." — Prov. iv. 18. 

True Christians belons: to the kino;dom of lio-ht. 
The apostle calls them *' children of the light," because 
they are children of God, who '^ is light," and in them 
there is no darkness at all. The difference between 
them and the worldling is, they have been translated 
out of the kingdom of darkness, and now walk in a path 
that grows brighter all the way. Let us trace their 
pathway. 

I. Tlie Christian was once in darkness. 

This is the condition of the unsaved world to-day. 
''Darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the peo- 
ple." This is moral darkness. By darkness is meant 
ignorance of God and his truth. This dense darkness 
is lighted up only where there are Christians, who are 
''the light of the world." Except there were some 
such, there could be no conceivable reason why God 
should keep this world in existence another moment. 
Isaiah, speaking of this state of things in the kingdom 
of Judah, says, " Except the Lord of hosts had left 
unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as 
Sodom, and like unto Gomorrah." But for these few 
faithful ones, society would have been like those cities 
whose imcleanness had so polluted the earth that God 



48 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

had to cleanse the very soil with fire. Modern society 
would break up but for the few who are " the salt of 
the earth," keeping it pure. Man by nature is totally 
depraved. When people hear depravity spoken of 
they misconceive its meaning. We do not mean by 
it that there is no good in man. There are many ex- 
cellent traits that have survived the fall, relics of his 
former glory. But we mean that he is so far gone from 
original righteousness that of himself he never would 
desire to come back to God. But for the moving of 
God upon his heart, he would never have a desire to 
serve him. All desires to flee from the wrath to come, 
all light showing our lost condition and what we ought 
to be, come from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. 
This is the crucial point. No doubt angels look with 
breathless interest to see if the convicted man yields 
to the light of conviction that God gives him. If he 
yields, God saves him, and brings him from the dawn of 
conviction into the glorious sunrise of the regenerated 
life. This is what Paul means as he says, '' God, who 
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath 
shined in our hearts, to reveal the knowledge of the 
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ/' Charles 
Wesley beautifully expresses it thus : ■ — 

" Long my imprisoned spirit lay, 

Fast bound in sin and nature's night. 
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. 
I woke. My dungeon flamed with light ! 
My chains fell off! My heart was free. 
I rose, went forth, and followed thee." 

By agreeing with the light of conviction, we come 
thus into the light of regeneration. And henceforth 



THE PATH OF LIGHT. 49 

the Christian is in the light. lie is no more in dark- 
ness. Those who are in darkness are not Christians. 
'' If we say w^e have fellowship with him, and walk in 
darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." He has es- 
caped the darkness of sin and doubt and ignorance of 
God. They who are in the dark do not belong to the 
kingdom of light; for '' God is light, and in him is no 
darkness at all." We must here, however, make a dis- 
tinction between darkness and heaviness. Peter tells 
LIS that there is such a thing as " heaviness through 
manifold temptations." But this may exist without 
darkness. The Christian, as he looks towards God and 
heaven and the future, sees nothing but light. Like 
the Israelites in Goshen, he is in light, while the world 
about him are like the Egyptians, in darkness. 

The Christian is not only in a pathway of light, but 
also of increasmz li^ht. As sure as we ao:ree with the 
light God gives in awakening and conviction, he will 
lead us into the light of regeneration. And as sure as 
we come into the light of regeneration, he will give us 
greater light still. Light is the preface to more light, 
if we are true to God. For ''the pathway of the just 
is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto 
the perfect day." 

There are people who say, ''The Lord did it all for 
me when I was converted." No doubt he did all for 
them that he ever did at that time in the. line of con- 
version ; but the man who makes that assertion makes 
a sad mistake, for true religion grows better, the path 
becomes brighter, and Jesus Christ improves upon ac- 
quaintance. The inspired author of the Epistle to the 
Hebrews says, " Leaving the principles of the doctrine 



50 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

of Christ, let us go on unto perfection." But how can 
the man who ''got it all at conversion" go on to any- 
thing more ? The Revised Version translates the pas- 
sage thus, ''Wherefore let us cease to speak of the first 
principles of Christ, and press on unto perfection." Wes- 
ley's comment upon the passage is, " Saying no more 
of them for the present." But this would spoil the 
religious stock in trade of many. All they can talk of 
is the time of their conversion. It seems to be the 
only bright spot in their lives. Their testimony is a 
reminiscence. A Christian finds it constantly better 
as he goes on. If it is not better than when he first 
believed, then he has stopped on the road ; for it is 
more light or decreasing light. He is like a bicycle 
rider ; when he stops, he 7/i2is^ get off. No matter how 
glorious a conversion we have, it is the smallest end of 
the increasingly shining pathway in which the Chris- 
tian travels. Were it anything less than increase, our 
spiritual powers would stagnate. 

Increasing light has been the divine method through- 
out all the ai^es. This seems to be the reason that God 
schooled the world for four thousand years by the dif- 
ferent dispensations, until, by the dispensations of the 
patriarchs, the law, the prophets, and of Jesus Christ, 
he finished with the dispensation of the Holy Ghost, in 
which we now live. In just the same way he has dis- 
pensations or epochs in the experience of the Christian. 
He is not like human theologians, who have to bolster 
up a theory. He leads his people on from grace to 
grace and from glory to glory. " We all, with open 
face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are 
changed into the same image from glory /<? glory, even 
as by the Spirit of the Lord." 



THE PATH OF LIGHT. 5 1 

There is a fulness of blessing that we conu to in 
this increasing pathway of light, if we maintain our re- 
generated life. We call especial attention to a passage 
\w Jolin i. i6, "And of his fulness have all v/e received, 
and grace for grace." The term translated fubccss 
here is the Greek picronia. This word means literally 
tJiat luliich is put in to Jill up wJiatcver is lacking. It is 
thus translated in lilatt. ix. i6, " No man putteth a 
piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for tJuit ivliicJi 
is put in to fill it np taketh from the garment." Here 
pleroma is translated, tJiat zvJiicli is put in to fill it up. 
In the parallel passage in Alark ii. 21 it is translated, 
"The new piece that filleth it up." The fulness is, 
then, that blessing which fills up that which is lacking 
in our Christian life. That blessing that comes to sup- 
plement and complete the experience of regeneration is 
what Paul means when he speaks of "the fulness of 
the blessing of the gospel of Christ," a special experi- 
ence filling all that we lack in our Christian experience. 
The remainder of the verse is also as explicit. It tells 
us the divine method of receiving the fulness thus, 
" grace y<:?r grace." This is a remarkable expression. 
By turning to the original, we find that the preposition 
fo?' is aiiti, w^hich means, instead of . For instance, the 
Pope of Rome is anti-Christ. He claims to rule instead 
of, or in the place of, Christ. We hear Jesus called the 
anti-type of all the types and shadows of the Old Tes- 
tament economy. That is, he took their place. They 
ceased wdien he came. He existed in their stead, as 
they were no longer needed. We will give our readers 
one or two further instances in which this preposition 
in the Greek is used in the sense of instead of ** An 



52 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth " (^Matt. v. 38). 
This was the method of punishment under the old dis- 
pensation. He who had put out the eye or tooth of an- 
other must himself offer the same member in place of 
the one injured. We give one other passage. *' The 
Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to min- 
ister, and to give his life a ransom for many," — a ran- 
som in the stead of many. We have shown, then, that 
the preposition in the phrase '' grace /<r>'r grace " means 
''grace taking the place of grace." One state of grace 
taking the place of another. TJie fdness is obtained 
when the grace of regeneration is superseded or com- 
pleted by the grace of entire sanctification. Whedon 
comments on this passage thus, '' Grace additionally 
bestowed for grace improved." Wesley says, '' One 
blessing upon another." This is the normal method of 
the real Christian life that God intends all converts to 
be speedily led to. He who has been true to the light 
of regeneration will soon be led to feel the need of 
something more ; and God will lead him into the ful- 
ness, if he is true and steadfast to his light, whether he 
knows the name of it or not. This is why all genuinely 
converted souls have a relish for all the lio'ht God has 
for them, and an appetite for holiness, even when they 
have never heard of it by name. And many a soul has 
come into this glorious experience of heart purity, who 
has come on the line of his needs, with no human 
teacher. We believe every genuine convert faces the 
question of heart purity sooner or later by the unerring 
teaching and leading of the Holy Spirit. He must now 
go on, and walk up to the greater light, or go back into 
a life of sinning and repenting, as thousands have who 



TUK PATH OF LIGHT. 53 

failed to follow the Spirit's leading. We are not talking 
of an idealism, not at all ! God intends that the fulness 
shall be the normal experience of the Christian, and not 
the '' up and down " life we see and hear so much of. 

We object to the term ''Higher Life." It is simply 
one way of dodging the Scriptural terms, sanctification 
and holiness. The term " higher life " implies that there 
are two kinds of Christian life, one high and the other 
low, which we cannot accept. There is but one life, and 
it is a high one of increasing Hght ; it is agreement 
with the light, and walking in it all the way. When 
God shows us any new light, we walk up to it with glad- 
ness, because we are in love with the light. When God 
shows a truly resfenerated soul the liirht of entire sane- 
tification, he walks up to it gladly, and seeks it with 
all his heart. He does not seek excuse for not comins; 
up to it. It is the people who are not regenerated that 
fight holiness. Every Christian zua/ks in greater light 
eacli day, and is seeking all tlie furtJier light he ean get. 
No preacher can preach too searching truth for him. 
He loves the light. He says, "Turn on the light! I 
want to be just as good as possible. I want to know 
the worst of my case this side the judgment. I can- 
not afford to be mistaken. So turn on all the li<jht vou 
can, dear Lord, and I will w^alk in it." No wonder, then, 
that some such earnest souls have come into the fulness, 
and had their hearts cleansed from all sin, who never 
heard technically of the doctrine of holiness. They 
prove the Scripture, " If we walk in the light as he is in 
the light, w^e have fellowship one with another, and the 
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 
A real Christian so loves the li^rht that he will not let 



51 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

anything, whether it be a friend, an associate, an indul- 
gence, a hab't, an amusement, or a prejudice, come be- 
tween him and the lii;ht. He estimates the rio:ht and 
wrong of everything by the effect it has on his ozv/i ex- 
perience. He does not take the word of others for it, 
but judges everything b}^ its influence in increasing or 
decreasing his light. It is said that Alexander the Great 
went to see Diogenes the philosopher, and wishing to 
patronize him, asked what he could do for him. ''Just 
please stand from between me and the sun," was the 
reply. All he wanted of the king was to stand out of his 
light. This is the attitude of the real Christian; he 
says to everybody and everything, " You must stand out 
of my light," and everything and everybody that in any 
way dims the light, he renounces. 

This is where many lose their experience who once 
rejoiced in the light. As surely as we do not receive 
gladly and walk in the new light we have, we shall lose 
that light, " Unto him that hath shall be given, and he 
shall have abundance : but from him that hath not shall 
be taken away even that wdiich he hath." This was 
the difficulty with the young man who came to Jesus. 
He was a member of God's church. He had kept the 
commandments. He had been walking up to his light. 
Still, he felt dissatisfied. He longed for a degree of sal- 
vation that would satisfy him. He asked Jesus, ''What 
good thing must I do, that I may inherit eternal life.^" 
Jesus replied, "If thou wilt be perfect, sell that thou 
hast, and follow me." Jesus saw that, in order to have 
perfect salvation, he must have the coveteousness of his 
nature destroyed. He told him how to obtain it, — by a 
complete consecration. This greater light he refused 



THE PATH OF LKHIT. 55 

to walk in. The result of it was, he went away from 
Jesus. Thousands go away from Jesus right at this 
point, by not going on into the greater light. This 
was the difficulty with the Israelites. They had been 
delivered from Egyptian oppression. They had speeial 
revelation of the will of God. They had the tabernacle 
of God among them. No people were ever so privi- 
leged. Yet God had delivered them, not merely for the 
purpose of getting them out of bondage, but of getting 
them into all the glories of Canaan. Similarly, to-day, 
God converts not merely to get us out of the world 
and hell, but to get us into the glorious experience of 
full salvation. ''He led them out that he might lead 
them in." So he led his people to the borders of Ca- 
naan ; and they refused to go in, and forfeited their 
birthright, which was prosperity in this present world. 
They never had any. It is very significant what name 
was given the place where they refused to go in. It 
was KadesJi. We wonder that many people are blind 
to-day, and do not see the significance of this word. It 
means in the Hebrew liolincss. God set up this word 
kadesJi^ liolincss^ as a warning to the latter-day church, 
and also a lesson. The Holy Ghost warns us to-day 
of the kadcsli to which he will lead his church, where it 
must go on or go back. There is no other alternative. 
If he had named the place w^here Israel stopped by 
some other name there might be less excuse, but holi- 
ness is still the great stopping-place of thousands. We 
may well ask why God gave the place this name, if it 
does not mean something to us. It shows that he 
meant to teach us that Canaan represented holiness, 
and the journey of the Israelites to it meant the life of 



56 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

the Christian before he gets to holiness, kadcsli — the 
rest of the soul. The author of the Epistle to the He- 
brews declares that their example is a warning to us, 
lest we fail to enter, not into heaven, but into '' the rest 
which remaineth to the people of God.'' This is rest 
in this world, because he adds, ''We which have be- 
lieved do enter into rest." This is a present tense rest. 
Present disobedience will spoil past gain and advance- 
ment in the journey. It will take all the grace we can 
get to keep what we have. For example, a father sends 
his son to a school to prepare for college. The son 
makes a good record, and graduates with honor. The 
father is pleased. He says, '' Well done, my boy. I am 
delighted with you. Now go to college." But the son 
objects and refuses. He says he has got enough educa- 
tion. Now, the father is grieved and displeased, not 
because the boy has not done well so far, but because 
he does not go on to the objective point which the 
father designed when he sent him to the preparatory 
school. Holiness, according to the Bible, is the experi- 
ence to which we are called. God leads us into the 
experience of regeneration that we may have our eyes 
opened to see, and be prepared for entire sanctification ; 
but many say, '' I have enough," or refuse to go on, and 
thus lose the favor of God, not because they have not 
been converted, but because they do not agree with their 
advanced light. For as surely as a Christian is a Chris- 
tian by agreeing with the initial light God gave him, 
so sure he cannot remain a Christian except he agree 
with the increasing light God gives him. The time 
comes in the history of the Christian when he must 
become entirely sanctified in order to remain justified. 



TITLE AND FITNESS. 5/ 



CHAPTER VII. 

TITLE AND FITNESS. 

" Which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints 
in hght." — Col. i. 12. 

Being a Christian constitutes heirship. Being a 
member of the family, we are heirs to our portion of 
the estate. This is not only true in common law, but 
also in the family of God. '' If children," says Paul, 
''then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." 
The little Scotch maiden who was on her way to the 
secret place of meeting, and was stopped by the sol- 
diery, who were endeavoring to break up such assem- 
blies of worship, was asked where she was going. She 
replied, that her elder brother had died, and she was on 
her way to hear the will read and claim her portion. 
The soldiers allowed her to pass, wishing that she 
might get a generous portion. This answer of the 
maiden has been regarded by many as a very ingenious 
reply. But it was only the truth. What looks to 
be a very ingenious excuse to worldly minded peop-le 
is a sober reality. It is no figure of rhetoric, or 
play of the imagination. We are heirs, so Peter de- 
clares, "to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and 
that fadeth not away." In other words, an everlast- 
ingly pure inheritance in heaven. Charles Wesley says 
every Christian rejoices in the title to his future in- 
heritance : — 



58 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

** How happy every child of grace 

Who knows his sins forgiven. 
This earth, he cries, is not my place; 

I seek my place in heaven, — 
A country far from mortal sight; 

Yet, O ! by faith I see 
The land of rest, the saint's delight, 

The heaven prepared for me." 

He obtained the title to this inheritance, not by his 
good works, but because he is a member of the family. 
Here is where many make their mistake. They expect 
to earn heaven by their good works ; but it is ours, not 
because we deserve it, but because we have the divine 
nature ; we are the children of God. And estates are 
given to heirs, not for their works, not because they 
have earned them, but because they are of the family. 
The prince succeeds his father upon the throne, not 
for his wealth, not for his efforts at earning the throne, 
but because he has the royal blood in his veins. God 
makes us ^^ kings and priests." The overcomers are to 
sit with Jesus upon the throne because they are par- 
takers of the divine nature. Unless we are partakers 
of the divine nature we cannot be h'eirs. Here is where 
Universalism makes its mistake. It insists that all are 
the children of God. But the Word of God declares 
that some are the children of the devil. Paul says, by 
nature we '' are the children of wrath." Hence we 
must be born again, and inherit the divine nature in 
order to be '' heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus 
Christ." 

Every Christian has his title-deed given him, telling 
him that he is a child of God in the witness of the 
Spirit. '' Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth 



TITLE AND FITNESS. 59 

the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, 
Father." This entrance of the Spirit into the heart is 
called *' the witness of the Spirit." Every Christian 
has the witness of the Spirit to his sonship. The life 
of God in the soul is too great and wonderful not to be 
perceived by the man who has got free from the spirit 
of the devil. We again say, as we have said often, it 
is a great experience to be a Christian — to have the 
divine nature, which means heirship, to have a title to 
heaven, because we are the children of God and the 
brethren of Christ. Such a soul with the poet sings : — 

*' N'ow I can read my title clear 
To mansions in the skies, 
I'll bid farewell to every fear 
And wipe my weeping eyes." 

The days of his mourning are over. An heir of God, 
he has in his heart the joy of the Holy Ghost. 

But as grand and glorious as it is to have a title to 
heaven, our title may be vitiated if we are not true to 
our light, as we have seen in the previous chapter. We 
have no through tickets, with ^' stop-over privileges," 
on the road to heaven. If we do not press on with all 
our power, we shall yet fail, even after we get our title. 
There are many v/ays in which men lose estates to 
which they have a title, if they get in debt, or fail to 
pay the taxes, or commit certain crimes. So we see 
that a title may be vitiated in several ways. And right 
here is a very vital point, because many people say, ''Was 
I not converted .^ Am I not a child of God } Why 
should I need anything more .^ " Here is where many 
fail in not noting the difference between their title to 



60 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

heaven, and their fitness for it. There is a vast differ- 
ence between the title that a child has to an estate and 
his fitness for it. Many a child at a very tender age 
(many times before he has come to the years of ac- 
countability) is an heir to his deceased parents' estate, 
but he is far from being fitted for it. The common law 
of the land does not consider any heir fitted for his es- 
tate simply because he has a title. It declares that he 
is not fit for it until he be twenty-one years of age, and 
even then, if he be an imbecile or insane, he has not the 
fitness, but must have a guardian or trustees. Infants 
have a title to heaven by the atonement of Jesus. But, 
nevertheless, they display tempers that are not heav- 
enly, and hence need fitness still. The qualifications for 
fitness are something besides and in addition to the title. 
Is it not strange that people cannot see the difference, 
but go on saying, '^I am a Christian. I have a title. 
That is sufficient " } A trice Christian zvill take no chances. 
Having a title^ Jie zvill be tremendoiLsly in earnest to get 
his fitness. Holiness of heart will be no secondary mat- 
ter to him. The man who is not greatly anxious about 
his fitness takes but little delight or thought about the 
inheritance. We quote a few verses of Scripture here 
to substantiate what we have already said. Paul said to 
the Galatians on this point, ^'The heir, as long as he is 
a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be 
lord of all ; but is under tutors and governors until the 
time appointed by his father.'' Peter says we are heirs 
to an inheritance '' reserved in heaven for you who are 
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." 
It is ''a kept inheritance for a kept people." It is 
those who are kept — from what ? from the only thing 



TITLE AND FITNESS. 6l 

that can get us off the track — sin. Kept in the only 
condition that makes us fit for heaven, purity of heart. 
'' Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." 
If men who have a title to an earthly estate are careful 
to keep all the requirements of the law, that they may 
enter upon it, how can the same men be so careless 
about the heavenly estate ? how can they be so indif- 
ferent about that '' holiness without which no man 
shall see the Lord " .^ Why is it they will risk their 
souls where they would not an earthly inheritance ? 
Jesus said to Nicodemus, ''Except a man be born again, 
he cannot see the kingdom of God." And every man 
born again does see the kingdom, and does have it set 
up in his heart. But there is another passage quite as 
emphatic, ''That sanctification without which no man 
shall see the Lord " {^Revised Versioii). A man may 
see the kingdom by being born again, and then refuse 
to go on, refuse to get the fitness, and never see the 
king of that kingdom, for the sight of the king is re- 
served to the pure in heart. The man who had not 
on the wedding garment failed to get into the marriage 
supper. He got into the kingdom, and then failed to 
get into the marriage supper at last, because he had 
not on the wedding garment, which is holiness. How 
can people call themselves Christians, who, in the face 
of these solemn passages, refuse to seek all the light 
and grace of holiness possible, refuse to seek the fitness 
by declaring, "I am converted, I have a title to heaven, 
that is enough".^ Do they not know that good titles 
are very often lost ? The Israelites lost the Canaan to 
which they had been called, simply because they would 
not go in and take possession. When their descend- 



62 OLD WINE IN NEW -BOTTL£S. 

ants, forty years later, came up to the land, God told 
them that it was theirs, just as he did their fathers. 
The difference between the miserable experience of 
their fathers and their great prosperity was, they went 
over and took possession. There are plenty of excuses 
that people make who do not wish to get the fitness for 
their inheritance. Some try to mix what God has made 
clear, and assert that a title is a fitness. If it is, then a 
good part of the New Testament is meaningless ; for it 
abounds in constant admonitions to the people of God 
to obtain entire holiness. 



THE ''UP AND DOWN** Lll-K. 63 



CHAPTER Vlir. 

THE "UP AND DOWN" LIFE. 
" Not laying again the foundation of repentance/' — Heb. vi. i. 

If we accept testimony at all, we must believe that 
there is an " up and down " experience that is supposed 
by many to be a part of the Christian life. Many good 
people testify to such an experience, who are honest, 
and would be believed on any other subject. We slan- 
der nobody when we say that such testimonies are 
heard in the class-meeting as these : '' Brethren and 
sisters, I make a great many crooked paths ; pray for 
me that I may continue on." ''I have my ups and 
downs." The following hymn is in one of the Calvin- 
istic hymnals : — 

*'A mixture of joy and sorrow, 
I daily do pass through. 
Sometimes Fm in the valley, 
And sinkincf down in woe. 



Sometimes I am exalted 
On eagles' wings ; I rise 
And soar above old Pisgah, 
And almost reach the skies. 

Sometimes I go to meeting ; 
Sometimes I stay at home ; 
Sometimes I get a blessing, 
And then Fm glad I come.' 



64 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

This ''up and down " experience comes from remain- 
ing too long in the initial experiences of grace. God 
intends that we shall go right on into the Canaan of 
perfect love ; and, as sure as we do not, we shall find it 
an up and down life. If any one will take a map, and 
trace the wanderings of the children of Israel, they 
will find their track was very circuitous, often crossing 
and re-crossing itself, aimless and purposeless. It re- 
sembles very closely '' the crooked paths " we hear 
modern professors of religion speak of, which give to 
the world such a sorry representation of the Christian 
life. The apostle gives us a picture of just such a 
church, in Heb. v. and vi. It was the church at Jeru- 
salem, who had remained too long in the elementary 
experience of grace, and had not gone '' on to perfec- 
tion." If we begin with Heb. v, ii, we can see the 
picture, which is a faithful representation of many we 
meet to-day. He is speaking of Melchisedec thus, ''of 
whom we have many things to say, and hard to be 
uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing." There has 
been a great deal written about Melchisedec, because 
it is uncertain who he was. Had this church been up 
to their privileges in the gospel, the church of the 
ages since might have had this truth revealed to them. 
But the apostle had to stop because this church was 
dull of hearing. For thirty years they had been estab- 
lished as a church, and yet they had made little prog- 
ress ; and all the Christian church since then is the 
loser in knowledge that might have been imparted 
right here, had this people been up to their privileges. 
If we fail to be all that God wants us to be, some one 
else will suffer as well as ourselves^ It may be our 



THE ''UP AND down" LIFE. 65 

families or friends or neighbors. Let us notice some 
of tiie characteristics which the apostle here gives of 
those who do not go on to perfection. 

1. Dull of Iicaring. — This does not mean inability 
to hear at all, but inability to clearly hear. It makes 
all the difference in the world as to ivJiat we are, if we 
are to hear well. The uncivilized savage who hears 
first the locomotive whistle in the forest mistakes it 
for some demon. But civilized man recognizes that it 
is the token of his nearness to civilization. When the 
voice came out of heaven, some said '' it thundered ; 
others said an angel spake to him." But Jesus recog- 
nized the voice of his Father. So when men hear the 
truth, it depends much upon what they are as to what 
they will hear. This is the reason there is great re- 
sponsibility in hearing the gospel. Some congregations 
are so spiritual they draw the preacher's very best out 
of his treasury. This moral attitude is the reason so 
many people find it hard to understand about holiness. 
They have trifled with the urging of the Spirit to holi- 
ness so, much, that their spiritual hearing has become 
dull. Many a time have we stated that holiness is not 
a state where we are free from the possibility of falling, 
only to hear it published abroad that we said we could 
not sin ; many a time have we declared that we could 
never arrive at the place where we could not be tempted, 
onlv to hear that we have said ''we could not be 
tempted." This is not because people mean to be dis- 
honest, but because they have dulled their spiritual 
sensibilities by not going on in Christian life. 

2. Dzvelling on the first principles of salvation. — In 
verse 12 he says, "Ye have need that one teach you 



66 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

again which be the first principles of the oracles of 
God." He says in the first part of the verse they 
ought to have been teachers themselves. Certainly 
they had, after thirty years of experience. They were 
ever learning and never coming to a '^ knowledge of the 
truth." How many such there are who never can teach 
any one else, even after long years of professed Chris- 
tian life. They have to be instructed upon the ele- 
ments of religion all their life, and cannot comprehend 
the deeper things of Christian life. In chapter vi. i, he 
says, '' Leaving the principles of .the doctrine of Christ," 
or as the R. V. has it, '' Let us cease to speak of the 
first principles of Christ." All such have to talk of is 
their conversion. They know nothing of the richer 
joys that come from more intimate acquaintance with 
Jesus. The only kind of preaching that feeds them is 
that which appeals to their sensibilities, — descriptions 
of death-beds, calling to mind their dead friends and 
loved ones gone before. And the preacher who suc- 
ceeds in making them cry without getting them to 
advance one peg is considered a great man, while they 
hear unconcernedly those who insist on holiness, — the 
preparation and fitness for heaven. 

3. Their fondness for, and inability to appreciate any 
other than, a diet of milk. — There are three kinds of 
diet mentioned in the history of the children of Israel. 
In Nnm, xi. 5 we hear them regretting the Egyptian 
diet they had left behind them. ''We remember the 
fish which we did eat freely; the cucumbers, and the 
melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick." 
This represents the worldly enjoyments that the sinner 
feeds upon. God gave them manna from heaven, and 



THE '' UP AND DOWN " LIFE. 6/ 

qiuiils to satisfy them only temporarily, until they got 
to Canaan, when they could eat of ''the old corn" and 
the milk and hone5^. So now, after we have left the 
pleasures of the world, God gives a temporary diet, 
called here milk, until we can go on and take ''strong 
meat." Paul had to feed -the church at Corinth on milk, 
reofrettins: that they could not endure meat. So here 
the Hebrew church had to be fed on the same diet for 
thirty years. The meat of the gospel was too much 
for their spiritual digestion. There are thousands to- 
day who have been in the way as long as this church, 
who turn away with loathing from the strong meat of 
the gospel. No wonder they are in an up and down 
state of experience. Milk is only intended to strengthen 
babes just for a brief time, until they are strong enough 
to take meat. Strong Christians have to have more 
substantial food. God intends regeneration to be tem- 
porary until we can go on to get entire sanctification. 

4. Infancy. — "For he is a babe." Babes make 
crooked paths because they have not learned to walk 
well, and have not the strength as yet. Babes have a 
good many falls. They are up and down. This ac- 
counts for so much of the "up and down " life. It is a 
sad sight to see a babe after he is thirty years of age, 
like this church at Jerusalem. Every household that 
has such babes is to be pitied. We pity the minister 
who has a church full of them. He has but little time 
to do any thing else, because the babes are often fretful. 
They quarrel. This is the cause of church quarrels. 
The babes do the quarrelling. So Paul said {see I 
Cor. iii.). 

5. Tlie babes have to be amused. — To do this takes a 



68 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

great deal of the time of the church and ministry. 
Churches have to be fitted up with reference to amus- 
ing the babes. Revivals have to be put off many times 
so as not to interfere with the amusement of the babes. 
They are up and down because divided between religion 
and amusement. The amusement craze has struck the 
church, called by the name of Jesus, to such an extent 
that it is far easier to get the people to the church en- 
tertainment than to the social means of grace. Great 
numbers usually may be seen at the former, while at- 
tendance is meagre at the latter. Why is this .^ Be- 
cause people go to that for which they have the most 
appetite. We can tell what people are by what they 
like. 

6. Simiing mid repenting. — " Not laying again the 
foundation of repentance." It will be seen, then, by 
this that repentance is the foundation of the Christian 
life. He who commits sin destroys his spiritual life. 
*' The soul that sinneth it shall die." And yet so com- 
pletely has the devil captured modern theology that it 
is thought that we can commit sin and yet be the chil- 
dren of God. So multitudes are sinning and repenting 
all their lives. This is their idea of religion. They 
spend their time tearing down and relaying the founda- 
tion. They get no time for building the superstructure 
upon the foundation. The true way to save a founda- 
tion is to place a house upon it. The true way to re- 
tain the experience of justification is to go on to entire 
sanctification, and let entire sanctification preserve our 
justification, just as a building by its very existence pre- 
serves its foundation. We have known of people lay- 
ing the foundation of a house, and, before they get 



THE ** UP AND DOWN " LIFE. 69 

ready to put the house on it, the foundation had so 
crumbled that it had to be relaid. There are thousands 
who are doing the same thing in their spiritual life. 
The true way to keep from backsliding is to keep press- 
ing on in spiritual life. And hence we find hosts of 
people whose Christian life is simply an effort at self- 
preservation. Our churches become, not life-saving 
stations, but hospitals. The true cure for this up and 
down state is getting rid of the inward tendency which 
keeps us back, and makes it difficult to advance. 

7. The tendency to doubt. — '' And of faith." Faith 
and repentance always go together. So true is this 
that there has been dispute as to which is first in the 
Christian life. Neither is first. Repentance is named 
first, but it is impossible to repent in the fullest sense 
without faith ; and it is impossible to exercise saving 
faith without having repented. This tendency to doubt, 
in the experience of one who knows he has been saved, 
is remarkable, and yet it is a fact. There is an under- 
current leading to rank unbelief in the experience of 
those who are as certain of their conversion as of their 
existence. This tendency weakens religious experience, 
and hinders them from advancing to the highlands of 
Christian experience. It leads them to fear that lions 
may be in the way. It makes them cowards instead of 
brave explorers. When a person begins to be swayed 
by this tendency to doubt, he soon refuses to go on. 
He listens to his fears ; he looks at circumstances and 
surroundings ; he looks at things from the worldly 
standpoint of numbers and worldly resources, instead 
of looking to God and his promises. This was the 
trouble with Israel when they came to the borders of 



yO OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

the promised land. They got scared at the report of 
the false spies, who told them of the walled cities and 
giants in the land of Canaan, instead of trusting in 
God, who told them to go on and possess the land. So 
many to-day listen to accounts of fanaticism, or of fail- 
ures, or inconsistencies, or the weakness of human na- 
ture, or of ridicule and opposition. These things are 
more congenial to their hearts than trusting in God. 
The apostle in the third chapter of Hebrews holds this 
people up as an example to us, saying, '' Take heed, 
brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of 
unbelief, in departing from the living God." In the 
tenth chapter he tells us that at this stage of Christian 
life the definition of faith is going ahead, '' Now the 
just shall live by faith : but if any man draw back, my 
soul hath no pleasure in him. Now we are not of those 
who draw back unto perdition, but of those that be- 
lieve." The great cause of backsliding is ''an evil 
heart of unbelief." Dr. Adam Clarke says on this 
point, '' A slothful heart sees dangers, lions and giants, 
everywhere ; and therefore refuses to proceed in the 
heavenly path. Many of the spies contribute to this 
by the bad reports they bring of the heavenly country. 
Certain preachers allow 'that the land is good, that it 
flows with milk and honey,' and go so far as to show 
some of its fruits ; but they discourage the people by 
•stating the impossibility of overcoming their enemies. 
' Sin,' say they, 'cannot be destroyed in this life — it 
will always dwell in you — ^ the Anakim cannot be 
conquered — we are but as grasshoppers against the 
Anakim,' etc. Here and there a Joshua and a Caleb, 
trusting alone in the infinite efficacy of that bloo.l 



THK ''UP AND down" LIFE. 7I 

which cleanses from all unrighteousness, boldly stand 
forth and say, ' Their defence is departed from them, 
and the Lord is with us ; let us go up at once and pos- 
sess the land, for we are able to overcome.' We can 
do all things through Christ strengthening us ; he will 
purify us unto himself, and give us that rest from sin 
here which his death has procured and his word prom- 
ised. Reader, canst thou not take God at his word ? 
He has never yet failed thee ! Surely, then, thou hast 
no reason to doubt. Thou hast never tried him to the 
uttermost." That is the point exactly. Many doubt 
the Lord without any good reason for so doing. There 
is need of, and, thank God ! there is, a better experience 
than the *' up and down " life of which we have been 
speaking. We can leave the foundations. As sure as 
we do not we shall be weak Christians all our days. 
We can go on to that perfection of Christian life which 
is free from doubt, because free from sin, — a perfect 
faith. We can arrive at the place where we can say 
with Faber. — 

** I know not what it is to doubt; 
My heart is always gay; 
I run no risk, for come what will, 
God always has his way." 

Some are scared at this word ^^ Perfection ; " but it is a 
Bible term, and whatever else it may mean, it means 
freedom from the *^ up and down" life of which wj 
have just been speaking. Reader, the cause of the up 
and down life is sin in the heart, which, like a load- 
stone, pulls downward towards hell. Get rid of the 
weight, and then the whole course of life will be up, 
with no " downs " of sinning against God, 



'J2 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 



CHAPTER IX. 
THE MORE ABUNDANT LIFE. 

*' That they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." 

John x. io. 

We have seen that a Christian is one who is a pos- 
sessor of the divine life. There are degrees of divine 
life just as truly in the spiritual as in the natural world. 
Some people object to anything more than regenera- 
tion. But there are hindrances to regeneration that 
impair spiritual health. A sick man has life, but not 
abundant life. A child is born of leprous parents, and 
for a time bids fair to defeat the inherited tendencies 
of leprosy. He is as well formed and developed and as 
fair as any other child, but in time the inner law of 
leprosy manifests itself. His future life is a constant 
struggle against disease. He has life, but not that 
abundant life that characterizes those born with pure 
blood (^'the blood is the life"). Many will admit this 
in the natural world who deny the corresponding ex- 
perience in the spiritual life. There are inherited ten- 
dencies that we have to struggle against in the spiritual 
life as truly as some do in the natural life. All man- 
kind inherit a predisposition to sin, just as some children 
inherit a predisposition to alcohol or tobacco, or inherit 
the seeds of disease. '' Adam begat a son in his own 
likeness '' after he fell from the image of God in which 



THE MORE ABUNDANT LIFE. 73 

he had been created. The universal testimony of the 
church in all its branches is, that these tendencies to 
sin do remain in them that are regenerate. As poison 
in the system is a hindrance to health of body, so is sin 
a hindrance to the spiritual life. Many of God's dear 
children are thus dwarfed and stunted in their spiritual 
development, as we wish to show still farther. We 
note some of the manifestations of experience that show 
the need of more abundant spiritual life. 

1. Fickle appetite. — Poison in the system, or poor 
health from any cause, is often evinced by a fickle appe- 
tite. Often it is weak and then again abnormally 
strong. We see the same thing in the appetite for 
spiritual things in those who have inbred sin. At 
times there is a great love for the word of God and 
prayer; at other times appetite for these things is 
weak. There is too much of this spasmodic, fitful ap- 
petite in the church to-day. Take all the poison out 
of the system, and appetite increases and is a sign 
of perfect health. Such people have to have preach- 
ing spiced up with a great deal of the pathetic ; often 
the preaching which can cause the most weeping is 
considered the gospel, when there is no thought in 
it all of a holy life, while those preachers who touch 
and rouse the conscience are considered austere and 
are unpopular. 

2. An intermittent state. — When malarial poison gets 
into the system, there is an intermittent life. First the 
patient is in a fever, then he is shaking with ague. 
When the poison is eliminated, then these phenomena 
cease. This is the cause of the revival heat and the 
reaction that follows again and again. This gives birth 



74 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

to the sentiment that has found expression in song 
thus, — 

" Why are my winters so long ? '*' 

Get sin out of the heart, and there is a constant glow of 
love and zeal for God. This is the reason that holiness 
makes a one-idea man of him who gets it. At last per- 
petual motion has been discovered. It puts tireless 
energy in the soul. 

3. A struggle f 07' existence. — There are thousands of 
suiferers from disease who are making a fight for life. 
This battle takes all their time and strength. They 
have no time to help others, but quite often others have 
to help them. And there are thousands in the church 
who have a hard time in retaining spiritual life. They 
have no time to help others. Their efforts are spent 
in keeping alive. Sometimes they ask their spiritual 
advisers for advice. They are often told that the way 
to get strong is by helping others. But this advice is 
like telling a man struggling against drowning to save 
others. Men do not become strong by work, but by 
what they eat. And men cannot eat to any profit with- 
out appetite, and appetite for spiritual things is poor 
when the poison of sin is still in the heart. The church 
has been a hospital too long. Too long has it been 
adjusting itself to the popular hymn, — 

''Hold the fort, for I am coming; 
Jesus signals still." 



Too long this defensive warfare has been waged, 
instead of an aggressive campaign against the devil, 
r.uil says, '' The weapons of our warfare are not carnal^ 



THE MORE ABUNDANT LIFE. 75 

hut mighty through God to the pulling clown. of strong- 
holds." It is time this were better understood. Zion 
is called to aggressive warfare. Every Christian is 
called to do something else than fight his own lusts, 
evil desires, and sin. He ought to go forth as a war- 
rior against sin. The church will never take the place 
her Lord designed until she gets on the aggressive. 
Every church ought to be an arsenal from which, seven 
days in the week, her hosts all equipped should go forth 
to make trouble for the devil, and shake his kingdom. 
Never can she do this while maintaining the contest 
against her own self and selfishness. When the church 
gets the victory over self, then she will be ready to shake 
the kingdom of hell. To compare the modern church, 
with its lack of power to convict men, or to stop the 
abuses that cry to heaven in modern society, with the 
description of her in the Bible, would excite ridicule. 
To compare the self-pampering, worldly religion of to- 
day with the picture of her '' coming up out of the wil- 
derness, leaning on the arm of her beloved," ''clear as 
the sun, fair as the moon, terrible as an army with 
banners," would be a farce. We once saw on the walls 
of a church a picture of a woman clinging to a cross. 
About her were dashing waves and the fragments of 
the wreck from which she had been cast. She was 
clinging for dear life to that cross, lest the angry 
waves should wash her away. The picture illustrated 
the current idea of religion. What a toilsome task was 
hers. A thousand times. we have thought of it, and 
wondered how Ions: her streno;th would last. She was 
putting forth all her strength for self-preservation. She 
had no time nor strength to help others. What a pic- 



j6 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

ture ! If we were a painter, we would like to paint 
another picture. We would place her at the foot of the 
cross, safe from the waves, and with a hand stretched 
out to help others to escape from the waves of sin. We 
would name the picture. Resting at tJie Cross. This 
rest of activity — rest as regards our own salvation and 
activity to save the world — can be obtained only by 
a fully saved church. The Christian who has yet to 
struggle with himself cannot be at his best for the 
salvation of others, or for pulling down the kingdom 
of Satan. We hear sometimes some dear old brother 
declare, ** I was converted years ago, and I am still con- 
verted. I am yet alive." As if it were remarkable that 
he had managed to keep alive. Abundant life is the 
condition of being at our best, both for God and hu- 
manity. 

4. Sin in the heart causes an enfeebled condition of 
life. — We hear much about ''crooked paths." These 
come from an enfeebled condition. It requires health 
and strength to continue in a straightforward course. 
This is the reason we hear some say, ''I am serving the 
Lord in my poor weak way." The divine way is to be 
strong, and serve him with a perfect heart. And the 
sooner people serve him in his way, and not in their 
*'poor weak way," the better for them. Lazarus is a 
type of the difference between these two degrees of 
life. He had life when he came out of the tomb, but 
he was still bound by the garb of death. Jesus said, 
" Loose him and let him go." So now he says of those 
alive from the dead, but yet hindered by "the remains" 
of their former condition, '' Loose them and let them 
go." When the church gets the Pentecostal gift of 



THE MORE ABUNDANT LIFE. "J"] 

divine power, then and only then will it come to that 
condition prophesied, where '' One shall chase a thou- 
sand, and two put ten thousand to flight." 

5. A state of debility is a state of viore or less misery. 
— We have known people who had life enough to be- 
come the basis for suffering at times, because of the in- 
roads of disease. And we have heard people declare that 
they had just religion enough to make them miserable. 
We suppose by the latter state they meant that in their 
desire to serve God they became legal in their service, 
and were constantly in fear lest they had left something 
undone, or had done something they ought not. This 
is the service of which Paul speaks in Galatians, per- 
formed by those who act more like servants than chil- 
dren. A man may have just enough of this kind of 
religion to make him miserable. And this is the reason 
so many say they have just enough religion to make 
them miserable. There is something better for God's 
children — abundant life. Abundant life is joyous life ; 
and it makes life a pleasure, not a burden. We have often 
thought, as we looked upon a congregation, suppose the 
bodies of these people were like their souls, what a de- 
plorable condition they would find themselves in. Some 
would be gasping for breath. Others would be walking 
on crutches ; others would be writhing in agony; while 
others would be carried to the tomb. Abundant life is 
the best condition for gi'ozvtk. A sickly child develops 
very slowly, if at all. Disease hinders growth. While 
it is true that a Christian grows somewhat before sin 
is removed from his heart, yet he can never develop so 
rapidly or symmetrically as after the sin is removed. 
This is the reason the Bible usually speaks of growth 



78 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

in grace after it has spoken of the purification of the 
heart. Sin, like disease in the body, is the great hin- 
drance to growth in grace. God wants to entirely sanc- 
tify his church, in order that they may develop properly 
in this world ; just as the farmer kills the weeds to help 
the growth of the corn, but never grows corn in order 
to kill weeds. The latter process would be as absurd 
as the attempts people are making to outgrow sin. 
There is no analogy in nature nor teaching in the Bible 
for outgrowing sin. Jesus gives us an illustration of 
this in the parable of the sower. The third class were 
those where the seed springs up in thorny ground. 
The thorns and briers sprang up with the good seed and 
choked it, so that it brought forth ''no fruit to perfec- 
tion." The fruit was imperfect because much of the 
strength and nourishment of the soil went into the 
thorns, when it should have been taken up by the good 
seed. On the other hand, the good ground hearers were 
those whose hearts was free from these hindrances, and 
brought forth abundant fruit, " some an hundred fold, 
some sixty fold, some thirty fold." 

This thought of abundant life is considered by some 
to be fanaticism. But why should it be considered 
fanaticism to have a healthy soul, any more than to 
have a healthy body ? Is not God as able to give one 
as the other .^ and is he not willing.^ Does he like to 
have sickly children ? Is it any credit to him to have 
sin, the work of the enemy, in his children ? Docs it rep- 
resent fairly the salvation of our God to have it under- 
stood that his salvation does not save f ully .'^ It seems 
to us it glorifies Satan more than Jesus, to declare that 
Jesus cannot, or will not, save us from sin. When the 



THE MORE ABUNDANT LIFE. 79 

Word of God declares that he *' cannot look upon sin 
with the least degree of allowance," will he yet allow 
it in his children ? Whatever good is in man is in spite 
of the wishes and protest of the devil. And must we 
say that whatever sin is in us is permitted by him who 
hates sin? Must his children have that in them that he 
abhors above all things else ? If it be fanaticism to pre- 
fer a healthy soul, then we are deluded by the plain 
teachings of the Bible. This cry of ''fanaticism" has 
always originated from those who are in the rear of the 
army. Since the days when Joseph saw more than his 
brethren, this cry has arisen from those in the rear, who 
have cast stones at the pioneers who are in the van- 
guard. Joseph's brethren called him the '' dreamer," 
and treated him accordingly. But the dreamer knew 
what he was about, and the time came when the breth- 
ren found it out. Ask the grass that springs in the 
meadow, '* What is life ? " and if it had a voice, it might 
reply, " It is above the mere existence of the mineral 
kingdom." It is to have that mysterious power that 
enables one to grow, and increase, and develop. Go a 
step higher, and ask the ox that crops the grass, '' What 
is life.-^" and if he could speak, doubtless he would 
declare his superiority to the plant-life — to the grass 
which he eats. A step higher than the animal brings 
us to man, gifted beyond the beasts in intelligence, rea- 
son, imagination, and discretion. It is not fanaticism 
to declare that man has a form of life that the animal 
creation knows nothing of. If we go a step higher, into 
the spiritual kingdom, we shall discover that the spirit- 
ual man lives in a realm, and is possessed of a life, of 
which the natural man is absolutely ignorant. And 



8o OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

it is no more fanatical to profess the life that is hid with 
Christ in God, which all true Christians enjoy, than it 
would be for the grass in the vegetable kingdom to pro- 
fess a life unknown to the mineral, or for the ox to 
profess a life that the plant is ignorant of. If we go a 
step higher we shall come to the degree of spiritual life 
that may be called life more abundant ; and why should 
it be considered fanatical, any more than to look upon 
the other states of existence as fanaticism ? 

There is nothing needed more to-day than a church 
with abundant life. No other people are competent to 
solve the great questions of the day, and correct the 
crying evils of society. No other can exemplify the 
golden rule, or carry out the love that not only ^Svork- 
eth no ill to its neighbor," but loves its neighbor as 
itself. 



CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD. 8l 



CHAPTER X. 
CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD. 

" A royal priesthood." — i Pet. ii. 9. 

The Christian is a priest. Under the Old Dispensa- 
tion the priest had a double office. He had a relation 
both to God and to man. He was a mediator between 
the two. When he stood in the presence of God, he 
represented the people. When he stood in the pres- 
ence of the people, he represented God. Thus he had 
his manward and his Godward relations. '' Every high 
priest," says Paul the Apostle, ''taken from among men 
is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he 
may offer both gifts and sacrifice for sins" {Heb. v. i). 
On the Godward side we find the priesthood as far back 
as the days of Noah. He stood up for God, and inter- 
ceded with a wicked world, seeking to persuade them 
to forsake their sins. He offered sacrifice to God when 
the eight came forth in safety from the ark. Abra- 
ham, too, exercised the priestly office — not only when 
he made the sacrifice of the animals at the time of 
his own justification (see Gen. xv. 9), but also when 
guilty Sodom was doomed by divine wrath, we hear 
him pleading that it be spared if ten righteous persons 
could be found. And his prayer was granted. Job 
was also a priest to intercede with God for men. After 
his mistaken and unsympathetic friends had been re- 



82 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

bilked for their hard speeches, God commanded them 
to bring their sacrifices, *' and my servant Job shall pray 
for you, for him will I accept." Moses, too, stood in 
the gap between an offended God and a backslidden 
church, and cried, '^ Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their 
sin — ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book 
which thou hast written." Paul said, ^'Brethren, my 
heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they 
might be saved." He also impresses upon Timothy, 
as a young preacher, the importance of the duty of in- 
tercession for all men. '^I exhort therefore, that, first of 
all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of 
thanks, be made for all men." He closes this injunc- 
tion by saying, '* for this is good and acceptable in the 
sight of God our Saviour ; who will have all men to be 
saved, and to come unto the knov/ledge of the truth." 
Jesus declared to his Father of his followers, '^ As thou 
hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent 
them into world." When we remember that Jesus was 
sent into the world to sacrifice himself for the world, to 
be its light, and to be a mediator between God and man, 
we see clearly that the Christian is the world's hope. 
A part of the perfect Christian nature as well as duty 
is the expression of perfect love to men. When sin is 
cleansed from the heart, then selfishness departs. He 
lives to spend his life for the good of men. He sacri- 
fices for them as Jesus did. There is never any dififi- 
culty in getting sinners saved where there is a band of 
such Christians. Their prayers and intercession with 
God and their sacrifices for men brino: down convictins: 
power upon the unsaved. The query is sometimes 
raised, '* Why does not conviction rest upon the unsaved 



CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD. 83 

as in former clays?" May not one answer be that 
there are so few that wrestle and intercede with God 
for the unsaved. There is so little travail of soul. 
It requires unselfishness to produce travail of soul. Ho- 
liness of heart begets unselfishness. No wonder that 
great observer of Christian experience, John Wesley, 
said of the preaching of holiness, ^^ Wherever it is 
preached revivals usually prevail." 

But there is another aspect of the responsibility and 
necessity of this kind of character in society. We live 
in an age that, like all others, has its peculiarities. We 
live in a time when great problems are demanding solu- 
tion. Great issues are at stake. If society is to re- 
main stable, there are great wrongs to be righted, great 
crimes that are being perpetrated upon society, and 
monstrous iniquities that cry to heaven for redress. 
The times may well call for the imprecation of St. 
James, '' Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for 
your miseries that are heaped upon you/' '^Behold the 
hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, 
which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth ; and the 
cries of them which have reaped are entered into the 
ears of the Lord of sabaoth." There is a o-reat strusfo-le 
between capital and labor, which grows fiercer ; there is 
a social evil that ctows more unblushinof as it drasrs its 
thousands of innocents from virtue to a living death 
and the blackness of eternal despair. Intemperance 
like a vampire is sucking the life-blood of the nations. 
A perverted type of optimism closes its eyes, and refuses 
to recognize these glaring, increasing evils. Where are 
the priests like Abraham who shall stand between God 
and Sodom to plead for it ? Where are the good Samar- 



84 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

itans that shall sacrifice for the bruised and wounded ? 
Where are the men that shall be illustrations of honesty 
in this age of fraud? Where are the Elijahs who shall 
call down fire from heaven, and destroy the priests of 
Baal ? Where is the salt that shall preserve the putrefy- 
ing mass of society? Where is the light for the world's 
darkness ? Where are the representatives of him who 
died on the cross for a guilty, wretched, suffering world ? 
Where are those ready to sacrifice to bring the world to 
the foot of that cross ? It is the fully sanctified, or 
there is no hope for this world. Such are the peculiar 
conditions of society to-day, that w^e must, as a church, 
make an advance. We cannot be satisfied with the old 
line of battle. We must push out against the forces of 
evil that are so blatant and defiant to-day. There must 
be a more intense Christianity^ or the victory must be given 
to the enemy. We must go farther even than the golden 
rule. We must do as Jesus did, — sacrifice ourselves for 
the good of humanity. In fact, the Salvation Army are 
doing this in their slum work, their prison brigades, 
their rescue homes, their self-denial, their hand-to-hand 
work ; but this is not enough. We must have a sanc- 
tified church that will reorganize society on the basis 
of equal rights. We must have Christian corporations 
with souls. We must raise up in this age of conscience- 
less competition an enlightened Christian conscience. 
Some one must lead the van by self-sacrifice. This is 
the only hope. Multitudes are looking, sometimes in 
despair, at the Christian church, the divine mediator, to 
set the example, and exhibit the great law of self-sacri- 
fice in bringing about the great reform for which society 
is voicing its righteous petition. There never was 



CHRISTIAN P:RIESTH00D. 85 

more need of a practical sanctification than to-day. 
And unless nominal Christianity shall refurnish itself 
with the savor which it has to some extent lost, then 
God will allow it to be trodden under foot of men, and 
furnish a better Christianity to take its place. The 
really sanctified Christian will not only live to enjoy 
himself, but be the world's representative, showing 
by his self-sacrifice that he possesses the heart of the 
Master who was the lover of mankind. As sure as 
Wesleyanism saved society in the last century, so sure 
God must have a sanctified people to save society to- 
day, or there is no hope. 

On the other hand, the Christian is the representative 
of God also. The only visible representative of God on 
earth is the Christian. It is amazing that man should 
be allowed to take this place. But it is nevertheless 
true, that the weakest child of God occupies a position 
that has been denied to the angels. These are the 
branches of the true Vine. We know that a vine bears 
its fruit on its branches, and not on the trunk. And 
since Jesus went to heaven, there is no one to bear the 
fruits of godliness and reflect the divine glory except 
men, — those who have been redeemed, washed, and 
translated out of the kingdom of darkness. These are 
the lights of the world, reflecting the glory of God. 

In a partial sense the creation reflects the glory of 
God, as far as his creative and preserving character is 
concerned. But in a higher sense the true Christian 
reflects God, for he is the product of the power that 
saves and keeps from sin. This expression of God's 
power cannot be found in all the works of God in 
nature. As the poet says, — 



86 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

" 'Twas great to speak a world from naught, 
'Tis greater to redeem." 

A sinner is a representative of Satan. A Christian 
represents God. The one shows what Satan can do, 
the other is an exponent of the power of God ; the one 
is a sample of the enemy's w^ork, the other is a sample 
of the power of God. There are those religionists who 
allow great power to Satan, but with strange inconsis- 
tency deny equal power to Jesus. They allow the 
power of Satan in his work of the ruin of the human 
soul, but deny the power of Jesus Christ to perfectly 
restore the ruin that sin has made in the human soul. 
They acknowledge that Satan can make perfect sinners, 
but deny that Jesus can make perfect saints. They 
believe that Satan was manifest to destroy the work of 
God, and that he is a success in this direction in a mul- 
titude of instances. But they deny the inspired Scrip- 
ture that declares that Jesus 'Svas manifes-ted to destroy 
the works of the devil." 

To all such we lay down this proposition, involved in 
the priesthood of the Christian, namely ; T/ie Cliristian 
is tJie only visible divine representative iii tlie world to- 
day. He is a sample of the saving power of the gos- 
pel of the Son of God. We are commanded to '' Let 
your light so shine before men, that they may see your 
good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." 
This being true, if God does not save his people yr<9;^ 
their sins, it is a confession of the failure of the gos- 
pel ; it is an untruthful representation of the holy God. 
A patient wasting away with disease is a poor repre- 
sentative of the skill of his doctor. Were we compelled 
to believe that Jesus Christ cannot save from sin, w^' 



CHRISTIAN PRIESTHOOD. 8/ 

vvouid believe the Christian to be a representative of 
Satan rather than of a holy God. 

If we found the trade-mark of a manufacturing: com- 
pany upon shoddy that passed for high-grade fabric, we 
should be compelled to consider the whole business a 
humbug. What shall we say, then, at finding the divine 
trade-mark upon sin ? What shall we say at finding the 
name Christian upon a sinful man ? What shall we say 
of a holy God being represented by those who not only 
are not saved from sin, but who even deny the possi- 
bility of such a salvation ? If, in buying the article, we 
were told it was high grade, and properly represented 
the skill and honor of the firm, when all the time we 
could see that it was only shoddy ; and if, when we called 
attention to the fact, we were told that it was an attempt 
at good quality, and that it was better to attempt even if 
one failed than to make no attempt at all, — what would 
we think? And yet that is the way men talk of the 
practical workings of the atonement of Him 'Svho gave 
himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, 
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of 
good works." If the medicine does not cure the pa- 
tient, then the disease is more than a match for the 
medicine. The divine representative must be like the 
God he represents, or he is not his representative on 
earth. No man can represent God unless he is holy, 
for God is holy. Hence we are told ^' as he is, so are 
we in this world." Unholy people represent the devil, 
and not God. And if unholy people bear the trade- 
mark Christian, then they have committed the crime of 
stealing the divine trade-mark to put the devil's goods 
upon the market, and hinder the work of God. The 



88 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES, 

proposition is true, then, that only holy people represent 
God, and all others represent the devil and his power. 
The Christian priesthood, then, is a high calling. It is 
patterned after the Jewish priesthood ; from that priest- 
hood sprang the idea of priesthood and its twofold 
office of intercession for man before God and repre- 
sentation of God before man. We note the following 
points of similarity. 

1. Priests ai'e born to the priesthood. — No one could 
be a priest under the ancient ritual unless one were of 
the house of Aaron. It came by birth. And as we 
have seen in previous chapters, no one can be a priest 
in the succession of Jesus Christ unless he be born 
into the divine family by the new birth. Thus God 
becomes his Father, and Jesus Christ his elder brother. 

2. Notwithstanding a priest must be born in the 
family of Levi, yet even then he had to be consecrated 
to the priesthood. This was a special and definite act 
after his birth. His birth entitled him to the office, 
but he was not fitted for its duties until he had been 
consecrated. Many born to the Christian priesthood 
do not see this; and many more, we fear, pretend not to 
see it. They say they were consecrated to the priest- 
hood when born. But this is a mistake. Consecration 
to the priesthood always takes place after birth. This 
is always the order, — birth, then sanctification. Jesus, 
our forerunner and example, a high priest '^after the 
order of Melchisedec," was not consecrated and anointed 
by the Holy Spirit for his priesthood until thirty years 
of age. Every analogy, therefore, shows that we are 
first born priests by the new birth, then by an act of 
consecration we become priests after our conversion. 



CHRISTIAN' i'Kii:siMi(^on. 89 

There are thousands called Christians who exercise no 
functions of the spiritual priesthood, have no real in- 
tercession before God and man, but labor to keep an 
existence, because they do not consecrate themselves 
entirely to God. We note some farther points of 
analogy between the consecration of priests under the 
Old and New Dispensations. 

1. TJie priest was ivaslicd. — ''Aaron and his sons 
thou shalt bring to the door of the tabernacle of the 
congregation, and shalt wash them with water" (^Ex. 
xxix. 4). They must be ''clean that bear the vessels 
of the Lord." God wants clean priests to-day. We 
cannot fully exercise the Christian functions God has 
called us to unless we are clean. We must be cleansed, 
just as Aaron's sons were, after we are born into this 
"kingdom of priests." 

2. They were then clothed with " the holy garments." 
God himself selected these garments. The consecrated 
believer is clothed with the garments of holiness after 
being cleansed. The removal of sin is the negative 
side of entire sanctification, and the putting on of 
righteousness is the positive side. It is the double ex- 
perience of the putting off of " the old man," and the 
putting on of " the new man which after God is created 
in righteousness and true holiness." 

3. Anointing. — Having been cleansed and clothed,, 
the priest was then anointed with the holy anointing 
oil, typical of the anointing of the Holy Spirit to-day. 
These three ceremonies took place at the same time, 
cleansing, clothing, and anointing, showing us that there 
is no special third experience. These three take place 
at the same time, just as justification, regeneration, and 
adoption are synchronous. 



90 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

Reader, you are called to be a son of God of the true 
tribe of Levi. If you have made your calling and election 
sure, you have a still higher call. God calls thee to the 
priesthood. Thou wert converted in order to enter the 
priesthood. Stop not with being a son, go on to the priest- 
hood. Priests of old forfeited their divine right by dis- 
obedience, and died, and many to-day are doing the same. 

The world all about is dying for lack of this minis- 
try. Only the anointed priesthood can ever success- 
fully avail in intercession for a lost world. ''If I regard 
iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Only 
a consecrated, anointed priesthood can truly represent 
our great High Priest in this world, among his foes. 
'' Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an 
holy nation, a peculiar people ; that ye should show 
forth the praises [virtues] of him who hath called you 
out of darkness into his marvellous light." 

Only the fully consecrated Christian priesthood is fit 
for heaven. *' Holiness, without which no man shall see 
the Lord." 

Our High Priest is now before the throne making 
intercession for us ; if he brings us safely home, it will 
be because we consent to be fully consecrated and 
anointed to the priesthood. And then we can rejoice 
in the language of the redeemed, '' Unto him that 
loved us, and washed us in his own precious blood, 
and hath made us kings and priests to God and his 
feather; to him be glory and dominion for ever and 
ever. Amen." Reader, if this book shall have been 
the means of establishing you in the Christian priest- 
hood as a fit intercessor with God for men, and a fit 
representative of his saving power, our object in writ- 
ing it will be met. Amen. 



HOLINESS. 91 



CHAPTER XI. 
HOLIiNESS. 

" Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." — Heb. xii 14. 

A RELIGION not in harmony with common sense could 
not have come from the God of the Bible. God is the 
author of common sense, and also of true religion ; and 
these, like all his works, never conflict. It having been 
revealed by God that this life is a preface to the life to 
come, it is in accord with good sense that we must get 
our fitness for that life while in this world. There 
used to be a kind of preaching that asserted that every 
soul went to heaven at death, regardless of character. 
But this was so revolting to common sense, that a sin- 
ner could go immediately to dwell with a holy God and 
angels, that the position was given up. Old-fashioned 
Universalism is dead, and no one preaches it. Instead 
of that, modern Universalists preach what is called 
'' Restprationism." By this is meant that a prepara- 
tion is needed for heaven after we die. This is some- 
what akin to the doctrine of purgatory as taught by the 
Roman Catholic Church. All admit that to dwell in 
heaven we must have the fitness. We wish to lay 
down a few propositions that we believe are in har- 
mony with common sense, and see if they are also in 
harmony with the Bible. 

I. Whatever is essential to our fitness for heaven 



92 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

ought to be found in the Bible as a plain declaration. 
It ought not to be found in one or two obscure places, 
but constantly, plainly, and emphatically. For, if the 
Bible contains the true religion, it certainly ought to 
tell us plainly what God expects of us as a qualification 
to live with him. 

II. Whatever is necessary to fit us for heaven ought 
to be the chief theme of the preachers. To preach 
anything that does not bear upon this, the fitness for 
heaven, or not to preach in such a way that all may 
know what it is and how to obtain it and retain it, is 
doing the people a cruel wrong which is irremediable. 
The preachers are in the world to urge upon the people 
the fitness for heaven. If not, what are they for? 

III. Whatever is necessary to fit us for heaven ought 
to be the specialty of everybody. We ought to think 
of nothing else or talk of nothing else until we have 
got to the place where we are ready to go to heaven at 
a moment's notice. And having obtained that fitness, 
we certainly ought to make it the special theme of our 
lives, lest we lose it, and in order that other people also 
may obtain it. We shall have little time for anything 
else except those things necessary to keep soul and 
body together properly until we are, sent for, to. go to 
that place which our preparation entitles us to. 

IV. Whatever is essential to fit us for heaven ought 
to be possessed by us each moment. We could not 
afford to be without it a single moment, for that might 
be the very moment that we were called to exchange 
worlds. It is poor management to let insurance run 
out for a single day. Many people have been ruined 
at just this point. Whatever fits us for heaven is too 



HOLINESS. 93 

precious for us to be without a single moment. We 
ought to keep insured all the time, or insurance amounts 
to nothing. 

V. Whatever is necessary to fit us for heaven ought 
to be within the grasp of all people, without regard to 
age, size, color, gifts, education, or sex, otherwise God 
would be neither merciful nor just. 

VI. Whatever is necessary to fit us for heaven ought 
to comprise and embrace all the duties and details of 
life in one sum. If the preacher had to preach on all 
details of life, one by one, a great many people would 
be dead before he had got through the list. We need, 
then, something that will strike the centre of the cir- 
cumference of life's duties at once, and radiate out into 
all its details. We believe these propositions will com- 
mend themselves to the judgment of every candid man. 
We wish now to try them by Scripture, and see if the 
Word of God sustains them. Does the Word of God 
declare plainly, constantly, and emphatically, the essen- 
tial for heaven ? Is it in one or two passages, or 
throughout the book.? The answer is direct and un- 
hesitating. The Word declares '' Holiness, without 

WHICH NO MAN SHALL SEE THE LORD." 

We notice that this is the teaching of the Bible every- 
where. It starts with a holy pair, who, having a free 
will, fell into sin. The plan of salvation was given to 
restore the race to the state from which they fell. We 
find that Enoch walked with God, which he certainly 
could not have done, had he not been himself holy ; for 
''how can two walk together except they be agreed." 
Noah ''was a perfect man in all his generations." Abra- 
ham obeyed the divine command to " Walk before me, 



94 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

and be thou perfect." Jacob declared on his death- 
bed that the angel at Peniel '' redeemed me from all 
evil." He assured Jacob of this by changing his name, 
which meant a change to holy character. When God 
led Israel out of Egypt, he brought them up to Mt. 
Sinai, and assured them that, if they would keep, his 
commandments, he would make them a holy people 
QEx. xix. 6). That law which they promised to keep 
was the law of perfect love to God and man. Jesus 
said it embraced our whole duty. Paul says, '' Where- 
fore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and 
just, and good." At Mt. Sinai God gave them the rit- 
ual of worship that taught holiness in typical form. 
The cleansing of the leper, the scape-goat, the depart- 
ments of the tabernacle, the dress of the high priest, 
the priesthood and all its functions, all typified holiness. 
God commanded the Israelites, ^^ Be ye holy," again 
and again. He declared, '^Thou shalt be perfect with 
the Lord thy God." We hear David praying, '' Create 
in me a clean heart, O God." We hear him declaring, 
*^ Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright : for the 
end of that man is peace." Again we hear him say, 
" Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of 
a clean heart." And again, ''Blessed are the unde- 
filed in the way." We read in Isa. vi. that that 
prophet received an experience whereby his iniquity 
was purged, and his sin taken away. God said to Israel, 
*' And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge 
away thy dross, and take away all thy tin." Through 
the mouth of Zechariah he says, '' In that day there 
shall be a fountain opened to the house of David for 
sin and for uncleanness." This is often quoted as if it 



HOLINESS. 95 

were in the church there is a fountain opened for the 
unconverted; but it reads, ''to the house of David." 
Malachi says of the work of the Holy Spirit, ''He 
shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver," and again, 
"He is like a refiner's fire." 

We have given a few of the many passages that show 
the trend of the Old Testament. We now turn to the 
New Testament. We give a few passages here, which 
we cannot stop to comment upon. The first chapter of 
Matthew declares by the mouth of the angel Gabriel, 
" Thou shalt call his name Jesus, because he shall save 
his people from their sins." Zacharias, filled with the 
Holy Ghost, in Liike i. declares that Jesus came that, 
" We beins: delivered out of the hand of our enemies 
might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteous- 
ness before him, all the days of our life." In his first 
sermon Jesus said, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for 
they shall see God," and "Be ye therefore perfect, even 
as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." He 
declared of the branches of the vine (true Christians), 
" Every branch in me that beareth fruit he purgeth it, 
that it may bring forth more fruit." He could not go to 
Gethsemane and Calvary until he had prayed for the 
men who had been preaching for him, " Sanctify them 
through thy truth : thy word is truth." Peter declares 
that, by the Pentecostal baptism, the disciples had their 
hearts purified by faith {^Acts xv. 9). Paul bids fare- 
well to the elders of the Ephesian church and says, " I 
commend you to God, and the word of his grace, which 
is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance 
among all them that are sanctified." When Paul was on 
trial before King Agrippa, he declared that Jesus at the 



96 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

time of his conversion gave him his commission to get 
men saved, in these words, '^ That they may receive 
forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which 
are sanctified by faith that is in me " (^Acts xxvi. 18). 

The epistles of Paul are full of this idea. If exhorta- 
tions to holiness are taken out of the epistles, there 
would not be much left ; for this is what they were 
written for. To the Romans he says, " Our old man 
is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be 
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." 
'' How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer 
therein ? " And again, ^^ I beseech you therefore, breth- 
ren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a 
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your 
reasonable service. And be not conformed to this 
world ; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your 
mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and accept- 
able, and perfect will of God." To the Corinthians he 
writes, '' Having therefore these promises, dearly be- 
loved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the 
flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." 
He closes his second epistle by saying, ^' Be perfect." 
To the Galatians he says, '' I am crucified with Christ : 
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : 
and the life I now live I live by the faith of the Son 
of God." To the Ephesians he says more on this 
subject than we can quote. We give a part of it. 
^' According as he hath chosen us in him before the 
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and 
without blame before him in love." This is good '^elec- 
tion doctrine." ''Christ also loved the church, and gave 
himself for it ; that he might sanctify it by the washing 



HOLINESS. 97 

of water by the word, that he might present it to him- 
self a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or 
any such thing; but that it should be holy and without 
blemish." To the Colossians he writes, declaring that 
Christ died '' to present you holy and unblamable and 
unreprovable in his sight." He tells the Thessalonians 
that '' God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but 
unto holiness." '^ This is the will of God, even your 
sanctification." He closes his epistle by saying, ** The 
very God of peace sanctify you wholly ; and I pray God 
your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blame- 
less unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith- 
ful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." To 
Timothy he says, ** Now the end of the Commandment 
is love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, 
and of faith unfeigned." To Titus he states the object 
of the atonement to be to ''redeem us from all iniquity, 
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of 
good works," 

The inspired author of Hebrews gives an epistle that 
is saturated with holiness. We give only a few passages. 
*' Wherefore he is able also to save them to the utter- 
most that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth 
to make intercession for them." '' For by one offering 
he hath perfected them that are sanctified, whereof the 
Holy Ghost is a witness to us." '' Holiness, without 
which no man shall see the Lord." ''Wherefore Jesus 
also, that he might sanctify the people with his own 
blood, suffered without the gate." The apostle James 
also states the question thus, " Cleanse your hands, ye 
sinners ; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded." 
Peter says a great deal more than we have space to give. 



g8 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

Here are some of his saviiiiis : ^'Throus-b sanctification 
of the Spirit." '' As he which hath called you is holy, 
so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because 
it is written, Be ye holy ; for I am holy." The apostle 
John writes, *^ The blood of Jesus Christ his Son 
cleanseth us from all sin." Jude wrote only a short 
epistle ; but it is in it, thus : '^ Sanctified by God the 
Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ." John in his 
apocalyptic vision heard one of the elders say of that 
great host in heaven, ^' These are they which came 
out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, 
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. TJiere- 
fore are they before the throne of God, and serve him 
day and night in his temple." 

We think we have shown from Scripture that holi- 
ness, the requirement of and for heaven, is all through 
the Bible. We have been able only to quote a few pas- 
sages. Let us see if the second proposition is equally 
true according to Scripture. We said that the fitness 
for heaven ought to be the chief theme of the preachers. 
The Scripture also sustains this proposition. Paul de- 
clares of his preaching Christ, '^ Whom we preach, 
warning every man, and teaching every man in all wis- 
dom ; that we may present every man perfect in Christ 
Jesus " (CoL i. 28). In Eph. iv. 10-13, he uses a beauti- 
ful classical allusion. He refers to the custom at the 
Roman military triumph, when the proud, victorious 
general, leading his captives through the city, showered 
gold and silver among the people. The gifts that Jesus 
gave men when he arose in his triumph from the grave 
were the divers orders of the ministry. '^ And he gave 
some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangel- 



HOLINESS. 99 

ists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting 
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edify- 
ing of the body of Christ." 

So we see this is the especial work of the minis- 
try, and should be their theme, their specialty. Any 
preaching that is not to tell the people what it is, or 
how to get it, or how^ to keep it, and how to help others 
to get it, is off the track, and is doing the people a cruel 
wrong. Describing a scene of nature, painting the 
beauties of nature, dealing in pathetic narratives, diving 
into the bow^els of the earth to describe the wonders of 
geology, scraping the stars to tell about astronomy, 
disquisitions upon science, rhetoric, physical culture, 
etc., may display the attainments of the preacher ; but 
it is not the preaching to w^hich Christ has called his 
ministers. 

How astonishing that the ministry ever allow them- 
selves to treat gingerly, or not at all, the very theme 
which the Lord sent them to preach. Let us see if 
our third proposition is sustained by Scripture, which 
was, holiness ought to be the specialty of everybody. 
The Bible also teaches this in harmony with common 
sense. In Dent. t7*. 5, God says to Israel, ''And thou 
shall love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and 
\\\\\\ all thy soul, and wdth all thy might. And these 
w^ords, which I command thee this day, shalt be in thine 
heart : and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy chil- 
dren, and shalt talk of them w^hen thou sittest in thine 
house, and when thou walkest by the way and when 
thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou 
shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they 
shall be as frontlets between thine eyes." This was 



lOO OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

making a specialty of holiness indeed, — breakfast, din- 
ner, supper, — all the time. Again Paul says, ''Take 
heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart 
of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But ex- 
hort one another daily, while it is called to-day ; lest 
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of 
sin." It will be seen that he exhorts us to give daily 
exhortations to the brethren to holiness of heart. This 
is making holiness a specialty indeed. It is the spe- 
cialty of heaven, and ought to be on earth. In the good 
time coming, Zechariah says it will be written on the 
bells of the horses. It will be a specialty then sure, and 
there is no reason why it should not be now. 

Proposition four is also thoroughly Scriptural : It 
ought to be possessed every moment is the teaching of 
the Word of God. In the parable of the Lord and his 
watching servants, Jesus said, '^ Therefore be ye also 
ready," He did not say get ready, for the man who 
has to get ready is not ready. He expects us to be in 
a state of readiness all the time. There is a fallacious 
teaching abroad that there are two kinds of grace, — one 
called '^living grace," and another called ^^ dying grace." 
It is a mistake ; there is but one kind — living grace. 
If we have that it will take us through. No man is fit 
to live until he has the grace that makes him ready to 
die any moment. What a vast amount of self-deception 
there is among church-members who know they are not 
fit for heaven, but hope to get there sometime, some- 
how. If the summons should reach you, reader, that at 
midnight you would be obliged to change worlds, and 
you had to get ready to meet God, it shows that you are 
not now ready. People who are ready do not need to 



HOLINESS. TOI 

get ready. People who have to get ready are not ready. 
Any man to whom ''sudden death would not be sudden 
glory " has no salvation worth having. How will it be 
with the man called suddenly, who was expecting to 
grow into holiness. Brother, if you should die in one 
of your fits of temper, where would you go to ? 

The proposition that the fitness for heaven must be 
within the reach of all classes, high and low, is also 
taught in the Bible. Some people have thought that 
holiness was only for the apostles or preachers, and 
evangelists. But Isaiah sets the matter right. In 
chapter xxxv. he speaks of the way of holiness, and 
says, '' The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not 
err therein." No one who knows enough to make an 
excuse can possibly offer this excuse. 

Peter, too, says on the day of Pentecost, *' For the 
promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that 
are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall 
call." And Jesus, after having prayed for his disciples, 
that they might be sanctified, said, '' Neither pray I for 
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me 
through their word." We asserted in our sixth prop- 
osition that whatever was essential to fit us for heaven 
ought to be found sufficient to qualify us for all of life's 
duties ; because if the ministry had to preach one Sun- 
day on one sin and another on another, it would take a 
whole lifetime to get around. We need to have a con- 
trolling power that would enable us to do right at once. 
Does the Bible speak of any such fitness ? It does. 
Solomon says, '* Keep thy heart with all diligence, for 
out of it are the issues of*life." Here, then, we have the 
essential for heaven, — '' Holiness, without which no 



I02 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

man shall see the Lord." We knew a pastor several 
years ago who preached on this text. It caused quite a 
stir among the people. One man commenced the next 
day to canvass the parish to make complaints of the 
sermon. He came to one person with these words. 
'' Our preacher said something awful yesterday." 
''What was it .^ " was the inquiry. ''He said that no 
one could get to heaven without holiness." " No, you 
are mistaken," was the rejoinder. "What did he say 
then.?" "It was not he that said it, but the Lord," 
was the reply. 

Yes, God says it. And yet many are trying to get to 
heaven without it. As a leading evangelist says, " Mo- 
rality will keep us out of jail, but it will take holiness 
to keep us out of hell." It was to make men holy, to 
lead them right on to holiness, that God converted us. 
This is the objective point of our being called out of 
the world, to assume the name and life of Christians. 
Just as God led Israel out of Egypt in order to lead 
them into Canaan, so he leads us out of the world to 
lead us into the experience of entire sanctification. 



HOLY FIRE. 103 



CHAPTER XII. 

HOLY FIRE. 
"He is like a refiner's fire.-' — Mal. iii. 2. 

The ancient Greeks in their mythology tell us that 
Prometheus stole fire from heaven to give life to a man 
whom he had fashioned. For this he was most severely 
and eternally punished. It was a mistaken idea, that 
fire had to be stolen from heaven. God is more than 
willing that we should have heavenly fire. He has 
fashioned the heart of man to be the place where 
fire may glow unceasingly. Under the Old Testament 
economy God taught spiritual truths by symbols. He 
had to use the kindergarten method, illustrating spir- 
itual truths by material things. '' Which is a parable 
for the time now present" (7?. F!), says the apostle, 
in speaking of the Old Testament economy. This 
method is necessary because man is slow to perceive 
spiritual things. 

God uses several symbols to represent the work of 
the Holy Spirit. Fire, water, wind, and oil are the four 
symbols usually employed to represent the office and 
work of the Holy Spirit. From the earliest time fire has 
been the most common symbol of the presence of God 
among men. It is believed that when Abel received the 
testimony that his offering was accepted, it was by fire 
falling upon his sacrifice. When Abraham had offered 



I04 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

his sacrifice, dividing the pieces of the slain victims, 
then the smoking furnace and the burning lamp passed 
between the pieces, denoting that God was present to 
accept his sacrifice. When the tabernacle was erected, 
and the sacrifice had been placed upon the altar, *^ There 
came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed 
upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat." When 
Solomon had ceased his prayer at the dedication of the 
temple, then fire fell from heaven upon the sacrifice. 
Elijah received the answer from heaven by fire, in his 
contest with the prophets of Baal. The answer came 
from **the God that answereth by fire." The glory of 
the first temple was the fire that had thus fallen from 
heaven, and was ever kept burning. When the second 
temple was dedicated, no fire fell on the altar ; and yet 
it was said of that second temple, *^the glory of this 
latter house shall be greater than that of the former." 
That greater glory consisted in the fact that Jesus 
Christ himself, in the flesh, walked and taught in the 
temple. And when Jesus yielded up his life, and the 
veil of the temple was rent in twain, and the old dis- 
pensation had passed away, then the Holy Spirit fell 
upon that company in the upper room, and tongues of 
fire rested upon their heads. This was the last time 
the symbol of fire appeared. All down through the 
ages it had been leading to this event. The real fire 
had appeared in the hearts of men. The symbol hence- 
forth was no more. It was no longer needed. Now 
the believer may receive the real fire, glowing, never 
dying. This takes place in the blessing of entire sanc- 
tification. When John the Baptist came, baptizing with 
water, as an emblem or symbol of regeneration, he de- 



HOLY FIRE. 105 

clared of the coming of Christ : '' He shall baptize you 
with the Holy Ghost, and with fire," referring to the 
fact that when Jesus returned to heaven, he would send 
the Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of those who de- 
sired him, as an abiding presence. Some have misun- 
derstood the term fire in this passage to refer to a third 
blessing, called the baptism with fire. Nothing could 
do more violence to the interpretation of the Scriptures. 
Water is the symbol of regeneration usually. Fire is 
always the symbol of the sanctifying work of the Spirit. 
For this reason John, who was preaching, ''He that 
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life," baptized 
those who received this ''everlasting life" as a token 
that they had received what Paul subsequently calls 
"the washing of regeneration." To use this faulty in- 
terpretation in other places would be ridiculous. For 
instance, Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Except a man be 
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the 
kino:dom of God." He could not have meant another 
birth by water after he had been born of the Spirit, but 
simply that the operation of the Spirit in the new birth 
is symbolized by water. The baptism with water was 
the beautiful symbol of the washing away of the old life 
by the Holy Spirit in the new birth. So, when John 
declared that Jesus should baptize with the Holy Ghost 
and fire, he declared not two baptisms, but f/ie one bap- 
tism of the Holy Ghost, of whose administration in the 
heart fire was the symbol. And just as John made 
water the symbol as he "gave the knowledge of salva- 
tion unto his people, by the remission of their sins" 
(Luke i. J'j'), so Jesus gave the symbol of the tongue of 
fire resting upon the heads of the disciples, as he bap- 



I06 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

tized them with the Holy Ghost, "purifying their hearts 
by faith." Therefore we understand by fire the nature 
and process of the experience wrought in the heart 
by the Holy Spirit in entire sanctification. The sym- 
bol enables us the better to understand what the Holy 
Spirit does in entire sanctification. It helps us to 
better comprehend the work accomplished. Let us 
notice some of the uses and operations of fire. This 
will help us the better to discover the different results 
accomplished by the Spirit when he comes into the 
heart in his fulness. 

I. Fire penetrates. 

When any metal, no matter how hard or impenetra- 
ble to other forces, is thrown into the fire, it is pene- 
trated through and through by the fire. Every part 
is reached by it. Water and air cannot go where the 
fire is. It works internally. So does the Holy Spirit. 
His chief work is within, where no human eye can see 
his working. True religion is mostly an inside affair. 
While its manifestations may be seen to some extent 
on the outside, yet the chief work is within. This was 
the point where the Pharisees made their great and 
fatal mistake. Jesus said to them, "Ye Pharisees make 
clean the outside of the cup and the platter ; but your 
inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye 
fools, did not he that made that which is without make 
that which is within also 1 " There is an amazing 
amount of modern Phariseeism that does not recoo-nize 
the same fact that God made the inner man as well as 
the outer man. A great multitude of modern religion- 
ists are garnishing the outer man, and paying little or 
no attention to heart religion. And when much is said 



HOLY FIRE. 107 

about the latter, it is called ''mysticism" or ''fanati- 
cism," etc. There never was a time when we needed 
to contend more for the inward religion, made possible 
and actual by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Jesus de- 
clared to the disciples, " He dwelleth with you and 
shall be in you." This is spiritual religion indeed. A 
great mass of professed Christians know nothing of it, 
by their own admission. It becomes a great question. 
How shall we get men to see that this is an internal 
religion ? People say, " If there is anything wrong in 
my heart, I want it removed." But if we let the Holy 
Spirit come in, he will search all the wrong out and 
discover it. 

Let him come in and have his way, and it will be 
unnecessary to imply the doubt by saying, " if there is 
is anything wrong," for — 

1 1 . Fire p icrifies . 

Malachi says of the Holy Spirit, " He shall sit as 
a refiner and purifier of silver." Only the most in- 
tense heat will separate the dross from the pure metal. 
Water will cleanse the outside of the precious ore, re- 
moving dirt, gravel, clay, etc. Hence the symbol of 
water in describing the work of the Spirit in the new 
birth. Regeneration makes a clean outside life. But 
fire is an agent for internal cleansing. Only holy fire 
will burn sin out of the heart. Men have tried pen- 
ance and zeal ; but these only harden, while they do 
not purify. They feed the self-life and increase pride. 
Only the fire of the Holy Ghost will kill out the de- 
mons of lust and pride. Inbred sin is hell-fire in the 
soul. And there is only one fire that is hotter, that will 
burn out the dross and leave the pure gold only. 



I08 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

III. Fire transforms. 

It penetrates and heats until the substance put into 
It becomes all on fire itself. It makes things wholly 
given to it like itself. We think this is what the apos- 
tle means when he says we " are changed into the 
same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit 
of the Lord." God is love ; and the complete posses- 
sion of the soul by the spirit of God permeates it 
through and through, until it is dissolved in love. We 
may be transformed before we are translated ; and, in 
fact, unless we are transformed, we shall never 'be 
translated. 

IV. Fire melts. 

The fierce heat of the sun unlocks the icy fetters of 
spring, causes the ice to dissolve, and makes the rivers 
overflow. Nothing is more needed to-day in modern 
Christianity than something to melt the frozen perform- 
ances called religion. We have gone to the extreme in 
the pursuit of the intellectual, and have stifled the emo- 
tions. Man needs a religion to enlarge and set on fire 
his emotional nature. The devil is getting too great a 
hold on the affectional nature of man, which many of 
the pulpits have been starving, until it has come to be 
thought that joy and peace are more to be found in the 
service of the devil than the service of God. We hear 
many tell of " serving God on principle." But it should 
be the principle of love. He who does not serve him 
from love makes him a taskmaster. 

Holy fire melts the heart, 
Makes the ills of life depart. 

V. Fire melts in order to mould. 

When metals by means of heat are reduced to the 



HOLY FIRE. 109 

flux State, they can be run into any mould, and fashioned 
into whatever shape we please. And so, when the holy 
fire melts the heart, it becomes pliable. There are so 
many stubborn, stiff-necked people, whose obstinacy 
and pride are unbending. But the melting fire cures 
this. They become humble and docile, ready to be 
moulded as God desires. For purity is not only to fit 
us for heaven, but make us useful here. The gold and 
silver are melted and purified, only to be made into 
something useful for the service of man. And God 
has purified us to make us each '' a vessel unto honor, 
sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared' 
unto every good work." (2 Ti7n. ti 21.) Our holiness 
means service to both God and man. We are not sanc- 
tified for our own happiness alone, but for service. 

VI. Fire shines. 

This is the principle by which we light our dwellings 
and streets. A fire is the cause of the shining. Holy 
fi/e, too, puts a shine on our actions, words, yea, even 
our faces. Men of old who had been into the presence 
of God had shining faces. Moses had to put a veil on 
his face when he came down from the presence of God, 
because his face shone so that the children of Israel 
could not look upon it. Stephen's face caught the glory 
of God before he died, for he was '' full of the Holy 
Ghost." The supernatural fire within irradiates the 
natural sometimes. We remember, on one occasion, at 
a great meeting where God was baptizing his people 
with holy fire, that a little boy said to his mother, '' See 
these people's faces, mother ; they look as if they were 
lit up with the electric light." There has been too 
much long-faced religion. People not saved from sin 



no OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

get wrinkled and care-worn very early in life through 
fret and worry. We have seen many a placid face 
whose look reminded us of the way the Sea of Galilee 
must have looked after the voice of Jesus hushed it to 
a calm. Inquiring into the cause, we have. learned that 
it was the reflection of holy fire within. This is better 
than cosmetics or face-powders. Jesus said of John 
the Baptist, ^'He was a burning and a shining light." 
He had to burn before he could shine. So must we 
bicrn first, then we will shine. If people had this inter- 
nal fire they would not need, nor care so much, to em- 
bellish the outside. 

VII. Fire is attractive. 

It catches the eye. It lights up the gloom of the 
night. A house on fire will attract a crowd. When we 
were a boy we sometimes ran for miles to see a fire. 
When we go into a room with a fire in the open fire- 
place, it constantly attracts the eye. This is the divine 
method of attracting men to the gospel. What hard 
work some churches have to draw a crowd, — sensational 
themes, artistic music, eloquent oratory, etc. But the 
divine method is to set the church on fire, and the com- 
munity will come out to see it burn. He set the 
church at Jerusalem on fire ; and the whole city turned 
out, and three thousand were converted. When God 
sets a pulpit on fire by baptizing the preacher, he never 
lacks an audience. Is it not strange that any pulpit 
should have every thing else in the place of fire } 

VIII. Fire is the gi'eat source of motion. 

All the great methods of transportation to-day de- 
pend upon fire as their source. The locomotive is use- 
less without fire. The dynamo generates no electricity 



HOLY FIRE. iir 

without fire as its source of motion. This causes the 
difference between steam and sailing vessels. The 
latter make no progress except when the wind blows, 
while the former go against wind and tide. There 
seem to be two kinds of Christians : one who goes well 
when everything is favorable, and the other who goes 
against the waves and storms of opposition and trial 
because they have holy fire within. We like the term 
*' holiness movement" given to the present revival of 
holiness, because it moves, and makes things move 
wherever it goes. Dead professors, moribund churches, 
and dying camp-meetings are revived and invigorated 
by it. There is the swing of conquest in it. When the 
holy fire possesses a soul, it gives him ceaseless energy. 
Perpetual motion has been discovered at last. It is in 
a fire-baptized soul. No wonder such people are irre- 
pressible. No wonder the holiness movement keeps 
moving, notwithstanding there is so much opposition. 
Notwithstanding there are so few workers to help it, 
yet it goes right on. We have sometimes thought of 
the homely illustration of the housekeeper, who puts 
the clothes in the boiler. After a while she presses 
down the part that boils up, but it is only to have them 
rise up in another place. So men have thought that 
holiness was crowded down and under, but it springs up 
in another place. The reason of it is, thei'e is fire tiii- 
derneath, John the Baptist is beheaded, but Jesus 
comes. He is crucified; but the holy fire falls on the 
church he has left behind him, until enemies cry, 
''These that have turned the world upside down are 
come hither also." It cannot be quenched, for holy 
fire is in it. 



112 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

IX. Everything is useless zvithoiit fire. 

Let the fire of the sun go out for one day, and all 
life would fail from this earth. Fuel is useless without 
fire. The coal in the mines of the earth is valueless, 
except as it can be put in contact with fire. How 
much talent there is in the church wasting to-day, that 
amounts to nothing because it has never been touched 
with fire. How many people who never have amounted 
to anything because they did not get the fire. We 
have seen men of very moderate talents accomplish 
great things for God and humanity, and die lamented, 
while those of great talent accomplished nothing. It 
is a sad fact that most people never amount to any- 
thing. Sometimes God takes an uncultured man, who 
violates the rules of grammar, and murders the king's 
English, and makes him a power to shame those of 
education and talent, who are trusting in their culture 
instead of the Holy Ghost. Let us remember that un- 
less we get the fire we never shall amount to anything. 
With it we can be useful. 

X. We can endure most anything if we get fire 
enough, 

Elijah on Mt. Carmel turned twelve barrels of water 
over his sacrifice ; but when the fire came from heaven 
it consumed everything, and licked up the water. 
Holy fire will destroy all that would depress or quench 
our spirits. There will be plenty of people to throw 
cold water if we attempt to serve God; but if we only 
get fire enough it will save us from all discouragement, 
and keep us in the midst of every trial. We pity those 
people who are constantly telling about their trials and 
persecutions. The trouble is they have not got the fire. 



HOLY FIRE. I 13 

Some people talk about leaving the church because 
they are opposed. What they need is the fire which 
will enable them to endure hardness with joyfulness. 

XI. Holy fire ivill not destroy anything worth keeping. 
There are people who do much questioning as to 

what the Lord will do or will not do for them in sancti- 
fying their souls. They almost seem afraid that some- 
thing will be destroyed that will injure their character. 
Some years ago we heard the matter illustrated by the 
burning bush that Moses saw on the mount. The bush 
was all on fire, yet not consumed. But if there had 
been a last year's bird's nest, a hornet's nest, or a spi- 
der's web, they would have been destroyed. If we 
have a heart where the devil hatches out evil thoughts 
and tempers, the fire will not destroy our heart, but 
will burn up all that which is unclean. If we have 
a hornet's nest that sends out spiteful, stinging words 
that hurt others all about us, holy fire will destroy 
these evil things without destroying us. Sin has made 
mankind unnatural. Holy fire takes out the abnor- 
mal element of sin, and makes us natural. Far from 
injuring us, it makes us better. We shall retain 
all worth keeping, and lose everything else. When 
people really get hungry for holiness, they will not be 
quibbling as to being hurt, or what they will have to 
lose to obtain it. 

XII. Fire sets fire. 

It may be only a spark, but it has to ht real fire to 
start a fire. And a very small spark is enough to burn 
up a great city. '' Behold, how great a matter a little 
fire kindleth," says St. James. Samson's foxes did 
great havoc in the conflagration that destroyed the 



I 14 OLD WINES IN NEW BOTTLES. 

corn of the Philistines. It was not the foxes that made 
the great fire that overspread the country, but it was 
the firebrand that Samson tied to the tips of their 
tails. It is not great talents that God blesses so much 
as ordinary talents set on fire. You may not have 
strength or capacity to carry more than a spark ; but 
if it be real fire that you carry, God will set some one 
else on fire. Let us, then, remember that we have no 
excuse for not carrying all the fire of which our capa- 
city will admit. We have seen whole churches aflame 
because some humble member got a spark of real Jeru- 
salem fire. 

XIII. Fire never falls tip on an empty altar. 

It was when the sacrifice was all upon the altar at 
the dedication of the tabernacle that the fire fell. It 
was so likewise when Solomon dedicated the temple. 
Then the fire fell. It never falls until the sacrifice is 
fully put there. So was it on the day of Pentecost. 
Reader, if the fire has not yet fallen upon the altar of 
your heart, depend upon it, you are yet keeping back 
part of the price. If you do not know what you are 
keeping back, would you be willing to pray, '' Lord, 
show me what it is, and it shall go upon the altar, no 
matter what it may be " } Put all upon the altar, to 
stay forever ! '' Bind the sacrifice with cords, even 
unto the horns of the altar," says the Psalmist. He 
means, put it there to stay, as an everlasting covenant. 
And when it is all thus placed, depend upon it, fire 
will fall upon it from heaven. You are the sacrifice. 
God wants you wholly given up to him. 

XIV. An altar is of no 7ise without fire. 

That is the purpose of an altar. Alas ! there are 



HOLY FIRE. 1 15 

so-called altars without fire. They have painted resem- 
blances of fire, but no fire. Painted fire consumes 
nathing, and gives no heat. There are many such 
heartless performances in the name of the religion of 
Jesus Christ. There is much ministering at cold altars 
by shivering priests. There is much ridicule to-day of 
the altar that has the fire ; but that is the only purpose 
of an altar, to receive and keep fire. That is the only 
reason God made the heart, — that it might glow with 
celestial fire. We might as well have no altars if we 
are to have only false, painted fires, — imitations that 
consume nothing, and give no heat. All the heat the 
priest got in the tabernacle was from the altar-fires. 
Many people are told to *^ believe, believe;" but they do 
not hold on until they get the fire, and then they go 
away and give way to unholy tempers. What is the 
trouble ? They do not hold on in faith until they get 
the fire that consumes sin. Of what use to have reli- 
gion, unless we get the fire. If we are going to have 
anything to do with the religion of Jesus Christ, let us 
have all there is in it. It is of no use to have a pro- 
fessed altar without real fire. 

XV. Everything worth having comes after we get the 
fire. 

The disposition in the modern church is to put every- 
thing else in the foreground — elegance, wealth, cul- 
ture, numbers, etc. But if we would prosper according 
to the divine idea of prosperity, we must have the fire 
first, and then everything else worth having will follow. 
Elijah was petitioned by Ahab to bring about a ces- 
sation of the drought. Ahab wanted the rain. But 
Elijah prayed first for and received the fire, then pray- 



Il6 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES. 

ing for the rain was successful. A great many churches 
and ministers want rain, without fire. They see the 
need of rain ; the country is very dry spiritually ; they 
see things are drying up. They want the rain, but 
dread the fire. As a last resort they send for some 
Elijah who can bring down fire, that rain may follow, 
and the cause be helped. Let all God's people be 
Elijahs, with no backslidden Ahabs, and there will be 
no drought and plenty of fire. Let all dead Christians 
and churches get the fire, and there will be plenty of 
everything else needful. 

XVL Fire is terrible when we get in the wrong rela. 
tion to it. 

The most useful of servants, fire becomes a terrible 
enemy when we get into wrong relations to it. Holy 
fire is *^a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death." 
*' Our God is a consuming fire/V He will either con- 
sume sin, or he will consume us. Each of us has the 
alternative either to be purified or destroyed. We have 
tried to show the reader the blessed results that come 
from the reception of th'e baptism with the Holy Ghost. 
We trust God will by these feeble words stimulate our 
readers to seek to become true Christians, and not to 
rest short of obtaining the holy fire, which God is 
anxious to bestow on those who will get to the place 
where the fire falls. 

** Now I feel the sacred fire, 
Kindling, flaming, glowing, 
Higher still and rising higher, 
All my soul o'erflowing." 



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